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- Title
Spiking and nonspiking classes of oligodendrocyte precursor glia in CNS white matter.
- Authors
Káradóttir, Ragnhildur; Hamilton, Nicola B.; Bakiri, Yamina; Attwell, David
- Abstract
A defining feature of glial cells has been their inability to generate action potentials. We show here that there are two distinct types of morphologically identical oligodendrocyte precursor glial cells (OPCs) in situ in rat CNS white matter. One type expresses voltage-gated sodium and potassium channels, generates action potentials when depolarized and senses its environment by receiving excitatory and inhibitory synaptic input from axons. The other type lacks action potentials and synaptic input. We found that when OPCs suffered glutamate-mediated damage, as occurs in cerebral palsy, stroke and spinal cord injury, the action potential–generating OPCs were preferentially damaged, as they expressed more glutamate receptors, and received increased spontaneous glutamatergic synaptic input in ischemia. These data challenge the idea that only neurons generate action potentials in the CNS and imply that the development of therapies for demyelinating disorders will require defining which OPC type can carry out remyelination.
- Subjects
NEUROGLIA; POTASSIUM channels; GLUTAMIC acid; ISCHEMIA; BLOOD circulation disorders; NERVE tissue
- Publication
Nature Neuroscience, 2008, Vol 11, Issue 4, p450
- ISSN
1097-6256
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/nn2060