Publication Date:
2004-03-27
Description:
In the nervous system of vertebrates, myelination is essential for rapid and accurate impulse conduction. Myelin thickness depends on axon fiber size. We use mutant and transgenic mouse lines to show that axonal Neuregulin-1 (Nrg1) signals information about axon size to Schwann cells. Reduced Nrg1 expression causes hypomyelination and reduced nerve conduction velocity. Neuronal overexpression of Nrg1 induces hypermyelination and demonstrates that Nrg1 type III is the responsible isoform. We suggest a model by which myelin-forming Schwann cells integrate axonal Nrg1 signals as a biochemical measure of axon size.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Michailov, Galin V -- Sereda, Michael W -- Brinkmann, Bastian G -- Fischer, Tobias M -- Haug, Bernhard -- Birchmeier, Carmen -- Role, Lorna -- Lai, Cary -- Schwab, Markus H -- Nave, Klaus-Armin -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2004 Apr 30;304(5671):700-3. Epub 2004 Mar 25.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, 37075 Gottingen, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15044753" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Axons/*physiology/*ultrastructure
;
Ganglia, Spinal/chemistry
;
Gene Targeting
;
Genes, erbB
;
Genes, erbB-2
;
Heterozygote
;
Mice
;
Mice, Knockout
;
Mice, Transgenic
;
Models, Neurological
;
Myelin Sheath/*physiology/*ultrastructure
;
Neural Conduction
;
Neuregulin-1/genetics/*physiology
;
Protein Isoforms/physiology
;
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor/analysis/physiology
;
Receptor, ErbB-2/analysis/physiology
;
Receptor, ErbB-3/analysis/physiology
;
Schwann Cells/physiology
;
Sciatic Nerve/chemistry
;
Signal Transduction
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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