Traditionally, oligodendrocytes have been assumed to play a minor supporting role in the central nervous system and their importance has generally been overlooked. For the first time, this book provides a dedicated review of all of the major aspects of oligodendrocyte biology, including development, organization, genetics, and immunobiology. Later chapters emphasize the importance of this underestimated cell to the mammalian central nervous system by exploring the role of myelin synthesis and maintenance in neural disease and repair. Particular attention is paid to multiple sclerosis (MS), arguably the prime example of an acquired demyelinating disease, with detailed examinations of the current concepts regarding demyelination, oligodendroglial damage, and remyelination in MS lesions.
List of contributors; Preface; 1. CNS oligarchs. The rise of the oligodendrocyte in a neuron-centric culture Emily Mathey, Ariel Arthur and Patricia Armati; 2. Comparative biology of Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes Rudolf Martini, Janos Groh and Udo Bartsch; 3. Control of oligodendrocyte development and myelination in the vertebrate CNS Robert H. Miller; 4. Molecular organization of the oligodendrocyte and myelin Grahame Kidd and Bruce D. Trapp; 5. The genetics of oligodendrocytes Joseph A. Nielsen, Pierre Lau and Lynn D. Hudson; 6. Immunobiology of the oligodendrocyte David Kremer, Orhan Aktas, Hans-Peter Hartung and Patrick Kury; 7. Oligodendrocytes and disease: repair, remyelination and stem cells Neil Scolding; 8. Glial progenitor cells and the dynamics of the oligodendrocyte and its myelin in the aged and injured CNS Jurate Lasiene and Philip J. Horner; 9. Oligodendroglial pathology in MS Tanja Kuhlmann and Wolfgang Bruck; 10. Glutamate receptors, transporters, and periventricular leukomalacia Tara M. Desilva and Paul A. Rosenberg; References; Index.
Patricia Armati is Associate Professor of Neuroscience and co-director of the Nerve Research Foundation, Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney, Australia. She has a long standing interest in the cells of the nervous system and the relationship to disease and is editor of The Biology of Schwann Cells (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Emily Mathey is a postdoctoral scientist at the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney. She has a keen interest in both immunology and neurobiology with particular emphasis on pathogenic antibody responses in demyelinating disease of the peripheral and central nervous systems.