| First Author | Balia M | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | Glia | Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 11 | Pages | 1821-1832 |
| PubMed ID | 28795438 | Mgi Jnum | J:245592 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5916327 | Doi | 10.1002/glia.23197 |
| Citation | Balia M, et al. (2017) A specific GABAergic synapse onto oligodendrocyte precursors does not regulate cortical oligodendrogenesis. Glia 65(11):1821-1832 |
| abstractText | In the brain, neurons establish bona fide synapses onto oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), but the function of these neuron-glia synapses remains unresolved. A leading hypothesis suggests that these synapses regulate OPC proliferation and differentiation. However, a causal link between synaptic activity and OPC cellular dynamics is still missing. In the developing somatosensory cortex, OPCs receive a major type of synapse from GABAergic interneurons that is mediated by postsynaptic gamma2-containing GABAA receptors. Here we genetically silenced these receptors in OPCs during the critical period of cortical oligodendrogenesis. We found that the inactivation of gamma2-mediated synapses does not impact OPC proliferation and differentiation or the propensity of OPCs to myelinate their presynaptic interneurons. However, this inactivation causes a progressive and specific depletion of the OPC pool that lacks gamma2-mediated synaptic activity without affecting the oligodendrocyte production. Our results show that, during cortical development, the gamma2-mediated interneuron-to-OPC synapses do not play a role in oligodendrogenesis and suggest that these synapses finely tune OPC self-maintenance capacity. They also open the interesting possibility that a particular synaptic signaling onto OPCs plays a specific role in OPC function according to the neurotransmitter released, the identity of presynaptic neurons or the postsynaptic receptors involved. |
