title: Diversity Matters: A Revised Guide to Myelination.
abstract: The evolutionary success of the vertebrate nervous system is largely due to a unique structural feature--the myelin sheath, a fatty envelope that surrounds the axons of neurons. By increasing the speed by which electrical signals travel along axons, myelin facilitates neuronal communication between distant regions of the nervous system. We review the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate the development of myelin as well as its homeostasis in adulthood. We discuss how finely tuned neuron-oligodendrocyte interactions are central to myelin formation during development and in the adult, and how these interactions can have profound implications for the plasticity of the adult brain. We also speculate how the functional diversity of both neurons and oligodendrocytes may impact on the myelination process in both health and disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: giulio_tomassy@harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Giulio Srubek
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Tomassy
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
authors.forename: Lori Bowe
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Dershowitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Electronic address: paola_arlotta@harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Arlotta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
keywords: brain plasticity; cerebral cortex; development; myelin; neuron–glia interaction; oligodendrocytes