Scientists Find Gene Vital to Central Nervous System Development

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a gene that helps regulate how well nerves of the central nervous system are insulated — healthy insulation is vital for the speedy propagation of nerve cell signals. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may have implications for human diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, in which the insulation is lost. The research focused on a gene called Gpr56, which manufactures a protein of the same name. During the study, researchers found that when the protein Gpr56 is disabled, there are too few oligodendrocytes to provide insulation for all of the axons. Still, the axons looked normal. In the relatively few axons that were insulated, the myelin also looked normal. However, the researchers observed many axons that were bare, and not wrapped in any myelin at all. Without Gpr56, the cells responsible for applying the insulation failed to reproduce themselves sufficiently, according to the study’s senior author. In a companion paper in the same issue of Nature Communications, researchers from Harvard University found similar defects in mice without Gpr56. In past research, evidence has shown that human defects in Gpr56 lead to brain malformations and are related to a lack of myelin. To read more about these studies, click here.