title: Dorsally derived oligodendrocytes come of age.
abstract: While oligodendrocyte precursors have previously been localized to the ventral midline, two papers in this issue of Neuron (Cai et al. and Vallstedt et al.) provide compelling evidence for a second dorsal origin of oligodendrocyte precursors in the spinal cord and hindbrain. These cells share expression of the PDGFalpha receptor and Olig2 with their ventral counterparts but differ in the requirement for Nkx6 and hedgehog signaling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000076104:Oligodendrocyte Transcription Factor 2; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D020796:Receptor, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D053823:Hedgehog Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000076104:Oligodendrocyte Transcription Factor 2; D020796:Receptor, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor alpha; D015534:Trans-Activators; C491328:Nkx6-1 protein, mouse; C405708:OLIG2 protein, human; C512773:Olig2 protein, mouse