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SCIP/Oct‐6, Krox‐20, and desert hedgehog mRNA expression during CNS remyelination by transplanted olfactory ensheathing cells
Author(s) -
Smith P.M.,
Sim F.J.,
Barnett S.C.,
Franklin Robin J.M.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
glia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.954
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1098-1136
pISSN - 0894-1491
DOI - 10.1002/glia.1121
Subject(s) - biology , remyelination , olfactory ensheathing glia , schwann cell , transplantation , microbiology and biotechnology , neuroscience , myelin , in situ hybridization , neuroglia , central nervous system , messenger rna , olfactory bulb , genetics , medicine , gene
Abstract Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs), although having a separate developmental origin to Schwann cells, are able to generate myelin sheaths following transplantation into areas of CNS demyelination that are remarkably similar to those made by Schwann cells. The transcriptional control of Schwann cell myelination has been well documented, in particular the role of SCIP/Oct‐6 and Krox‐20. It is not known, however, whether these transcription factors are also expressed when OECs assume a myelinating phenotype. In this study, we addressed this question by using a transplantation approach to generate myelinating OECs and then examined the expression of SCIP/Oct‐6 and Krox‐20 mRNA by in situ hybridization using oligonucleotide probes. We also examined the expression of desert hedgehog (Dhh), a Schwann cell–derived signaling molecule that is responsible for regulating the development of the connective tissue elements in peripheral nerve, which bear similarities to the morphologies adopted by nonmyelinating transplanted cells. Our results indicate that both Krox‐20 and Dhh mRNA are strongly expressed by transplanted OECs, with SCIP mRNA present at much lower levels. The expression of Krox‐20 relative to the expression of P0 mRNA by the transplanted OECs is consistent with its playing a similar role in OEC myelination to that in Schwann cell myelination, while the expression of Dhh suggests a possible mechanism for the diverse morphologies that cells adopt following OEC transplantation into the damaged CNS. Taken together, our results provide further evidence for the close similarity of OECs and Schwann cells and suggest that, despite their separate origins, the manner in which they generate a peripheral‐type myelin sheath involves similar regulatory mechanisms. GLIA 36:342–353, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.