Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Sep;1843(9):1917-29.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2014.04.018. Epub 2014 Apr 21.

Temporal oligodendrocyte lineage progression: in vitro models of proliferation, differentiation and myelination

Andreia Barateiro  1 , Adelaide Fernandes  2
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Temporal oligodendrocyte lineage progression: in vitro models of proliferation, differentiation and myelination

Andreia Barateiro et al. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2014 Sep.
Free article

Abstract

Oligodendrocytes are neuroglial cells responsible, within the central nervous system, for myelin sheath formation that provides an electric insulation of axons and accelerate the transmission of electrical signals. In order to be able to produce myelin, oligodendrocytes progress through a series of differentiation steps from oligodendrocyte precursor cells to mature oligodendrocytes (migration, increase in morphologic complexity and expression pattern of specific markers), which are modulated by cross talk with other nerve cells. If during the developmental stage any of these mechanisms is affected by toxic or external stimuli it may result into impaired myelination leading to neurological deficits. Such being the case, several approaches have been developed to evaluate how oligodendrocyte development and myelination may be impaired. The present review aims to summarize changes that oligodendrocytes suffer from precursor cells to mature ones, and to describe and discuss the different in vitro models used to evaluate not only oligodendrocyte development (proliferation, migration, differentiation and ability to myelinate), but also their interaction with neurons and other glial cells. First we discuss the temporal oligodendrocyte lineage progression, highlighting the differences between human and rodent, usually used as tissue supply for in vitro cultures. Second we describe how to perform and characterize the different in vitro cultures, as well as the methodologies to evaluate oligodendrocyte functionality in each culture system, discussing their advantages and disadvantages. Finally, we briefly discuss the current status of in vivo models for oligodendrocyte development and myelination.

Keywords: Ex vivo cultures; In vitro primary cultures; Myelinating co-cultures; Myelination; Oligodendrocytes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

LinkOut - more resources