Treadmilling Model for Plasticity of the Myelin Sheath

R Douglas Fields; Dipankar J Dutta

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2019.04.002

Treadmilling Model for Plasticity of the Myelin Sheath

Trends Neurosci. 2019 Jul;42(7):443-447. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.04.002. Epub 2019 May 8.

Authors

R Douglas Fields¹, Dipankar J Dutta²

Affiliations

¹ Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity, The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: fieldsd@mail.nih.gov.
² Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity, The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.

Abstract

We propose a mechanism for myelin plasticity that would complement synaptic plasticity by adjusting conduction velocity for optimal spike-time arrival. In the proposed treadmilling model, myelin sheath thickness is a dynamic balance between the rates of new myelin deposited adjacent to the axon and removal of the outermost layer.

Keywords: astrocyte; myelin plasticity; neurofascin155; oligodendrocyte; spike-time dependent plasticity; thrombin.

Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

Animals
Humans
Models, Neurological*
Myelin Sheath / physiology*
Synaptic Transmission / physiology*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding