A New Acquaintance of Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells in the Central Nervous System
Zexuan Ma1 · Wei Zhang1 · Chenmeng Wang1,2 · Yixun Su2 · Chenju Yi2,3,4 · Jianqin Niu1,51 Department of Histology and Embryology, College of basic medicine, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China
2 Research Centre, Seventh Afliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518107, China
3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Guangzhou, China
4 Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Active substance screening and Translational Research, Shenzhen 518107, China
5 Chongqing Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, Chongqing 400038, China
Abstract
Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are a heterogeneous multipotent population in the central nervous system (CNS) that appear during embryogenesis and persist as resident cells in the adult brain parenchyma. OPCs could generate oligodendrocytes to participate in myelination. Recent advances have renewed our knowledge of OPC biology by discovering novel markers of oligodendroglial cells, the myelin-independent roles of OPCs, and the regulatory mechanism of OPC development. In this review, we will explore the updated knowledge on OPC identity, their multifaceted roles in the CNS in health and diseases, as well as the regulatory mechanisms that are involved in their developmental stages, which hopefully would contribute to a further understanding of OPCs and attract attention in the field of OPC biology.
Keywords
Oligodendrocyte precursor cell; OPC-neuron synapse; Myelin-independent roles; Heterogeneity; Migration; Proliferation; Diferentiation
