The Genetic Signature of Perineuronal Oligodendrocytes

Oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system can be categorized as precursors, myelin-forming, and non-myelinating perineuronal cells. The function of perineuronal oligodendrocytes is unknown; it was proposed that following injury, they may remyelinate denuded axons. We investigated these cells' potential. A combination of cell-specific tags, microarray technology and bioinformatics tools to identify gene expression differences between these subpopulations allowed us to capture the genetic signature of perineuronal oligodendrocytes. Here we report that perineuronal oligodendrocytes are configured for a dual role. As cells that embrace neuronal somata, they integrate a repertoire of transcripts designed to create their own code for communicating with neurons. But they maintain a reservoir of untranslated transcripts encoding the major myelin proteins for - we speculate - a demyelinating episode. We posit that the signature molecules, PDGFR-[alpha][beta] cytokine PDGF-CC, and transcription factor Pea3, used - among others - to define the non-myelinating phenotype, may be critical for mounting a myelinating programme during demyelination. Harnessing this capability is of therapeutic value for diseases such as multiple sclerosis. This is the first molecular characterization of an elusive neural cell