Locomotor recovery following contusive spinal cord injury does not require oligodendrocyte remyelination

Greg J. Duncan, Sohrab B. Manesh, Brett J. Hilton, Peggy Assinck, Jie Liu, Aaron Moulson, Jason R. Plemel and Wolfram Tetzlaff ()
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Greg J. Duncan: University of British Columbia (UBC)
Sohrab B. Manesh: University of British Columbia (UBC)
Brett J. Hilton: University of British Columbia (UBC)
Peggy Assinck: University of British Columbia (UBC)
Jie Liu: University of British Columbia (UBC)
Aaron Moulson: University of British Columbia (UBC)
Jason R. Plemel: University of Calgary
Wolfram Tetzlaff: University of British Columbia (UBC)

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-16

Abstract: Abstract Remyelination occurs after spinal cord injury (SCI) but its functional relevance is unclear. We assessed the necessity of myelin regulatory factor (Myrf) in remyelination after contusive SCI by deleting the gene from platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha positive (PDGFRα-positive) oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) in mice prior to SCI. While OPC proliferation and density are not altered by Myrf inducible knockout after SCI, the accumulation of new oligodendrocytes is largely prevented. This greatly inhibits myelin regeneration, resulting in a 44% reduction in myelinated axons at the lesion epicenter. However, spontaneous locomotor recovery after SCI is not altered by remyelination failure. In controls with functional MYRF, locomotor recovery precedes the onset of most oligodendrocyte myelin regeneration. Collectively, these data demonstrate that MYRF expression in PDGFRα-positive cell derived oligodendrocytes is indispensable for myelin regeneration following contusive SCI but that oligodendrocyte remyelination is not required for spontaneous recovery of stepping.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05473-1

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