Choi Elliot H, Blasiak Agata, Lee Joonho, Yang In Hong
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States.
Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States.
Front Neurosci. 2019 Sep 6;13:952. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00952. eCollection 2019.
Electrical stimulation has been playing a significant role in revealing various functions and mechanisms of the nervous system. It is no different for myelination, a process in which oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) or Schwann Cells in the peripheral nerve system (PNS) wrap around axons to provide an insulating layer and . It has been widely recognized that the myelin sheath accelerates axon signal conduction and provides neuroprotection. Recent studies have begun to reveal its role in plasticity. The major mechanism that enables this process is activity-dependent myelination - the phenomenon where neuronal activity supports oligodendrocyte maturation and myelin sheath formation. In light of recent discoveries, a better understanding of this phenomenon has a potential to provide therapeutic targets for not only demyelinating diseases, but also psychiatric disorders. There is a growing need for experimental platforms capable of dissecting the effect of neural activity on myelination in health and disease. The effect of neural activity is commonly studied by comparing the myelination levels in cultures with neurons of low and high activity. Electrical stimulation is particularly well suited as a method of inducing neural activity in these systems. In this review, we describe platforms for studying activity-dependent myelination, which utilize neuron stimulation via electrical field. We also discuss stimulation profiles, as well as the alternatives to electrical stimulation in the context of regular, compartmentalized, and organotypic co-cultures.
电刺激在揭示神经系统的各种功能和机制方面一直发挥着重要作用。对于髓鞘形成来说也是如此，髓鞘形成是指中枢神经系统（CNS）中的少突胶质细胞或周围神经系统（PNS）中的施万细胞围绕轴突形成绝缘层的过程。人们普遍认识到，髓鞘能加速轴突信号传导并提供神经保护作用。最近的研究开始揭示其在可塑性方面的作用。促成这一过程的主要机制是活动依赖性髓鞘形成——即神经元活动支持少突胶质细胞成熟和髓鞘形成的现象。鉴于最近的发现，更好地理解这一现象不仅有可能为脱髓鞘疾病，也为精神疾病提供治疗靶点。越来越需要能够剖析神经活动对健康和疾病状态下髓鞘形成影响的实验平台。通常通过比较低活性和高活性神经元培养物中的髓鞘形成水平来研究神经活动的影响。电刺激作为在这些系统中诱导神经活动的一种方法特别合适。在这篇综述中，我们描述了用于研究活动依赖性髓鞘形成的平台，这些平台利用电场对神经元进行刺激。我们还将讨论刺激模式，以及在常规、分隔和器官型共培养背景下电刺激的替代方法。
