Transmembrane protein NG2 controls orientation of cell
migration toward the wound / Publication in the prestigious Journal of
Neuroscience
When the central nervous system is injured, oligodendrocyte
precursor cells (OPC) migrate to the lesion and synthesize new myelin sheaths
on demyelinated axons. Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Cell Biology at
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now discovered that a distinct
protein regulates the direction and movement of OPC toward the wound. The
transmembrane protein NG2, which is expressed at the surface of OPCs and
down-regulated as they mature to myelinating oligodendrocytes, plays an
important role in the reaction of OPC to wounding. The results of this study
have recently been published in the renowned Journal of Neuroscience.