Additive dominant effect of a SOX10 mutation underlies a complex phenotype of PCWH.

Distinct classes of SOX10 mutations result in peripheral demyelinating neuropathy, central dysmyelinating leukodystrophy, Waardenburg syndrome, and Hirschsprung disease, collectively known as PCWH. Meanwhile, SOX10 haploinsufficiency caused by allelic loss-of-function mutations leads to a milder non-neurological disorder, Waardenburg-Hirschsprung disease. The cellular pathogenesis of more complex PCWH phenotypes in vivo has not been thoroughly understood. To determine the pathogenesis of PCWH, we have established a transgenic mouse model. A known PCWH-causing SOX10 mutation, c.1400del12, was introduced into mouse Sox10-expressing cells by means of bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) transgenesis. By crossing the multiple transgenic lines, we examined the effects produced by various copy numbers of the mutant transgene. Within the nervous systems, transgenic mice revealed a delay in the incorporation of Schwann cells in the sciatic nerve and the terminal differentiation of oligodendrocytes in the spinal cord. Transgenic mice also showed defects in melanocytes presenting as neurosensory deafness and abnormal skin pigmentation, and a loss of the enteric nervous system. Phenotypes in each lineage were more severe in mice carrying higher copy numbers, suggesting a gene dosage effect for mutant SOX10. By uncoupling the effects of gain-of-function and haploinsufficiency in vivo, we have demonstrated that the effect of a PCWH-causing SOX10 mutation is solely pathogenic in each SOX10-expressing cellular lineage in a dosage-dependent manner. In both the peripheral and central nervous systems, the primary consequence of SOX10 mutations is hypomyelination. The complex neurological phenotypes in PCWH patients likely result from a combination of haploinsufficiency and additive dominant effect.

Novel signals controlling embryonic Schwann cell development, myelination and dedifferentiation.

Immature Schwann cells found in perinatal rodent nerves are generated from Schwann cell precursors (SCPs) that originate from the neural crest. Immature Schwann cells generate the myelinating and non-myelinating Schwann cells of adult nerves. When axons degenerate following injury, Schwann cells demyelinate, proliferate and dedifferentiate to assume a molecular phenotype similar to that of immature cells, a process essential for successful nerve regeneration. Increasing evidence indicates that Schwann cell dedifferentiation involves activation of specific receptors, intracellular signalling pathways and transcription factors in a manner analogous to myelination. We have investigated the roles of Notch and the transcription factor c-Jun in development and after nerve transection. In vivo, Notch signalling regulates the transition from SCP to Schwann cell, times Schwann cell generation, controls Schwann cell proliferation and acts as a brake on myelination. Notch is elevated in injured nerves where it accelerates the rate of dedifferentiation. Likewise, the transcription factor c-Jun is required for Schwann cell proliferation and death and is down-regulated by Krox-20 on myelination. Forced expression of c-Jun in Schwann cells prevents myelination, and in injured nerves, c-Jun is required for appropriate dedifferentiation, the re-emergence of the immature Schwann cell state and nerve regeneration. Thus, both Notch and c-Jun are negative regulators of myelination. The growing realisation that myelination is subject to negative as well as positive controls and progress in molecular identification of negative regulators is likely to impact on our understanding of demyelinating disease and mechanisms that control nerve repair.

Human embryonic stem cells differentiate into oligodendrocytes in high purity and myelinate after spinal cord transplantation.

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) demonstrate remarkable proliferative and developmental capacity. Clinical interest arises from their ability to provide an apparently unlimited cell supply for transplantation, and from the hope that they can be directed to desirable phenotypes in high purity. Here we present for the first time a method for obtaining oligodendrocytes and their progenitors in high yield from hESCs. We expanded hESCs, promoted their differentiation into oligodendroglial progenitors, amplified those progenitors, and then promoted oligodendroglial differentiation using positive selection and mechanical enrichment. Transplantation into the shiverer model of dysmyelination resulted in integration, differentiation into oligodendrocytes, and compact myelin formation, demonstrating that these cells display a functional phenotype. This differentiation protocol provides a means of generating human oligodendroglial lineage cells in high purity, for use in studies of lineage development, screening assays of oligodendroglial-specific compounds, and treating neurodegenerative diseases and traumatic injuries to the adult CNS.

Spontaneous inflammatory demyelinating disease in transgenic mice showing central nervous system-specific expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha.

Cytokines are now recognized to play important roles in the physiology of the central nervous system (CNS) during health and disease. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several human CNS disorders including multiple sclerosis, AIDS dementia, and cerebral malaria. We have generated transgenic mice that constitutively express a murine TNF-alpha transgene, under the control of its own promoter, specifically in their CNS and that spontaneously develop a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease with 100% penetrance from around 3-8 weeks of age. High-level expression of the transgene was seen in neurons distributed throughout the brain. Disease is manifested by ataxia, seizures, and paresis and leads to early death. Histopathological analysis revealed infiltration of the meninges and CNS parenchyma by CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes, widespread reactive astrocytosis and microgliosis, and focal demyelination. The direct action of TNF-alpha in the pathogenesis of this disease was confirmed by peripheral administration of a neutralizing anti-murine TNF-alpha antibody. This treatment completely prevented the development of neurological symptoms, T-cell infiltration into the CNS parenchyma, astrocytosis, and demyelination, and greatly reduced the severity of reactive microgliosis. These results demonstrate that overexpression of TNF-alpha in the CNS can cause abnormalities in nervous system structure and function. The disease induced in TNF-alpha transgenic mice shows clinical and histopathological features characteristic of inflammatory demyelinating CNS disorders in humans, and these mice represent a relevant in vivo model for their further study.

Normal and abnormal patterns of myelin development of the fetal and infantile human brain using magnetic resonance imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging allows a noninvasive assessment of myelination during normal brain maturation as well as the detection of genetically determined and acquired diseases that affect the synthesis and maintenance of myelin. If this high sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging for white matter changes is completed by adequate clinical and biochemical information, a unique diagnostic tool is available to gain new insights in the formation of myelin and pathogenesis of myelin disorders.

Postnatal development of a demyelinating disease in avian spinal cord chimeras.

Xenogeneic spinal cord chimeras were constructed by grafting fragments of quail neural primordium into chick embryos at 2 days of incubation. Hatched birds displayed normal motor behavior for about 5 to 7 weeks, whereupon they developed a neurological syndrome; in the grafted spinal cord the pathological signs of the disease were very similar to those of the active plaques of multiple sclerosis and of the lesions of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis and neuritis, including Ia expression by brain capillary endothelia, rupture of the blood-brain barrier, leukocytic infiltration in the nervous tissue, and demyelination. In the animals at the most advanced stage of the disease an autoimmune attack occurred on the host's nervous system with the same histopathological signs.

Molecular analysis of glial cell development in the canine 'shaking pup' mutant.

The shaking pup, a canine mutant, carries a point mutation in the myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) gene that causes dysmyelination of the central nervous system (CNS) with resultant tremor, seizures, and other persistent neurological deficits. The developmental potential of glial cells in the shaking pup CNS and peripheral nervous system (PNS) was evaluated by quantitative analysis of the expression of several glial-specific genes. All of the myelin-associated genes demonstrated developmental patterns of expression similar to those observed in the controls, but at significantly reduced levels. Expression of the genes for the major CNS myelin proteins, PLP and the myelin basic protein, are most dramatically affected in the shaking pup, although reduced expression levels are observed for other oligodendrocyte-specific genes such as 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'phosphodiesterase and glucose phosphate dehydrogenase. The pattern of gene expression in the shaking pup indicates that the oligodendrocytes experience an inhibition in development after the myelination program has begun. There appears to be little evidence for an astrocytic response to the dysmyelinating condition at the RNA level, but we present evidence for ectopic expression of P0 mRNA in the CNS. Expression of the P0 and PLP genes in the sciatic nerve appears to be normal, reinforcing previous reports that PNS myelination is unaffected by the mutation in the PLP gene.