F. M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Science. 2012 Sep 14;337(6100):1357-60. doi: 10.1126/science.1220845.
Early social isolation results in adult behavioral and cognitive dysfunction that correlates with white matter alterations. However, how social deprivation influences myelination and the significance of these myelin defects in the adult remained undefined. We show that mice isolated for 2 weeks immediately after weaning have alterations in prefrontal cortex function and myelination that do not recover with reintroduction into a social environment. These alterations, which occur only during this critical period, are phenocopied by loss of oligodendrocyte ErbB3 receptors, and social isolation leads to reduced expression of the ErbB3 ligand neuregulin-1. These findings indicate that social experience regulates prefrontal cortex myelination through neuregulin-1/ErbB3 signaling and that this is essential for normal cognitive function, thus providing a cellular and molecular context to understand the consequences of social isolation.
早期的社交隔离会导致成年后的行为和认知功能障碍，这与白质改变有关。然而，社交剥夺如何影响髓鞘形成，以及这些髓鞘缺陷在成年期的重要性尚不清楚。我们发现，断奶后立即隔离 2 周的小鼠在前额叶皮层功能和髓鞘形成方面发生改变，而重新引入社交环境并不能使其恢复。这些改变只发生在这个关键时期，与少突胶质细胞 ErbB3 受体缺失相似，社交隔离会导致 ErbB3 配体神经调节素-1 的表达减少。这些发现表明，社交经验通过神经调节素-1/ErbB3 信号调节前额叶皮层的髓鞘形成，这对于正常的认知功能是必不可少的，因此为理解社交隔离的后果提供了一个细胞和分子的背景。
