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Cerebral cortex demyelination and oligodendrocyte precursor response to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Authors :
Francesco Girolamo
Giovanni Ferrara
Maurizio Strippoli
Marco Rizzi
Mariella Errede
Maria Trojano
Roberto Perris
Luisa Roncali
Maria Svelto
Tiziana Mennini
Daniela Virgintino
Source :
Neurobiology of Disease, Vol 43, Iss 3, Pp 678-689 (2011)
Publication Year :
2011
Publisher :
Elsevier, 2011.

Abstract

Experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in mice provides an animal model that shares many features with human demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). To what extent the cerebral cortex is affected by the process of demyelination and how the corollary response of the oligodendrocyte lineage is explicated are still not completely known aspects of EAE. By performing a detailed in situ analysis of expression of myelin and oligodendrocyte markers we have identified areas of subpial demyelination in the cerebral cortex of animals with conventionally induced EAE conditions. On EAE-affected cerebral cortices, the distribution and relative abundance of cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage were assessed and compared with control mouse brains. The analysis demonstrated that A2B5+ glial restricted progenitors (GRPs) and NG2+/PDGFR-α+ oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) were increased in number during “early” disease, 20 days post MOG immunization, whereas in the “late” disease, 39 days post-immunization, they were strongly diminished, and there was an accompanying reduction in NG2+/O4+ pre-oligodendrocytes and GST-π mature oligodendrocytes. These results, together with the observed steady-state amount of NG2−/O4+ pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes, suggested that oligodendroglial precursors attempted to compensate for the progressive loss of myelin, although these cells appeared to fail to complete the last step of their differentiation program. Our findings confirm that this chronic model of EAE reproduces the features of neocortex pathology in progressive MS and suggest that, despite the proliferative response of the oligodendroglial precursors, the failure to accomplish final differentiation may be a key contributing factor to the impaired remyelination that characterizes these demyelinating conditions.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1095953X
Volume :
43
Issue :
3
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Neurobiology of Disease
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.34271a172b7f4a9d99668ed7d91fb36d
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nbd.2011.05.021