Myelin made to measure (original) (raw)

Glia

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 5, page 343 (2004)Cite this article

The speed at which action potentials are conducted along an axon depends largely on the diameter of the axon and the thickness of its myelin sheath — two factors that are closely related. Maintaining the precise control of conductance velocity is essential for the proper function of the nervous system, and it has been suggested that myelin thickness might be controlled by interactions between ligands produced by the axon and receptors on the myelinating glia. Michailov et al. tested the idea that the axonal ligand that is responsible — in the periphery, at least — is Nrg1, interacting with ErbB receptors on Schwann cells.

The Nrg1 gene is expressed in neurons of the sciatic nerve in mice, and ErbB2 and ErbB3 are expressed by Schwann cells. If interactions between Nrg1 and ErbB receptors control myelin thickness, changes in the amount of ligand or receptor might alter the thickness of the myelin sheath. When the authors generated compound heterozygote mice that had reduced gene dosages of both Nrg1 and ErbB2, they found that the myelin in the sciatic nerves of the mice was significantly thinner than usual. Although the mice seemed normal, the conduction velocity in their nerves was also reduced, even though the sizes of the axons were unchanged.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 12 print issues and online access

$189.00 per year

only $15.75 per issue

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Additional access options:

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Michailov, G. V. et al. Axonal neuregulin-1 regulates myelin sheath thickness. Science 25 March 2004 (10.1126/science.1095862)

Download references

Authors

  1. Rachel Jones
    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

WEB SITE

Nave laboratory

Rights and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jones, R. Myelin made to measure.Nat Rev Neurosci 5, 343 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1400

Download citation