Myelin formation is governed by neuron−glia communication, which in turn is modulated by neural activity. The exact mechanisms of myelination associated with neural activity remain elusive. New tools are required to investigate the mechanisms by which environmental inputs and neural activity regulate myelination patterns. We have developed novel in vitro electrical, optogenetic, and magnetic stimulation platforms that facilitate subcellular activity induction in hundreds of neurons simultaneously. These systems have been applied to a compartmentalized culture of primary dorsal root ganglion neurons whose distal axons were interacting with oligodendrocyte precursor cells. Neural activity was induced along whole neurons or was constrained to cell bodies with proximal axons or distal axons only. All three modes of stimulation promoted oligodendrocyte differentiation and the myelination of axons as evidenced by a decrease in the number of oligodendrocyte precursor cells followed by increases in the number of mature oligodendrocytes and myelin sheath fragments. In this These results demonstrated the potential of our novel stimulation systems for the global and focal induction of neural activity in vitro for studying axon myelination.

Electrical, optogenetic, and magnetic stimulation of myelination

2019 Spring National Meeting

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