Topic: Adaptive myelination

Adaptive myelination is the emerging concept of tuning axonal conduction velocity to the activity within specific neural circuits over time. Sound processing circuits process signals with microsecond precision: a time scale that is amenable to adjustment in length and thickness of myelin. Sound-evoked responses during postnatal development increase the activity of auditory axons and enhance myelin thickness, while sensory deprivation prevents such radial growth during development. Deprivation occurring during adulthood reduces myelin thickness. However, it is unclear if sensory stimulation adj

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) serve as progenitors for oligodendrocytes (OLs) throughout their life, contributing to developmental and adaptive myelination, as well as myelin repair. OPCs are known to make synaptic and extra-synaptic contacts with axons, but the mechanisms by which they integrate the information relayed by the neuronal activity into Ca2+ signals, which in turn influence their fate and survival, are still unclear. Using newly developed transgenic mouse lines to express genetically encoded Ca2+ sensors in OPCs, we performed 2-photon microscopy in the somatosensory corte