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Schwann cells play an important role in peripheral myelination, and dysfunction of these cells leads to axonal damage. Schwann cells degenerate following peripheral nerve injury. Immature Schwann cells proliferate, differentiate, and support axonal regeneration and extension during recovery. There are a lot of intracellular signals involved in the myelination process. Although serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase (SGK

Microglia are derived from myelogenous cells and contribute to immunological and inflammatory responses in central nervous system. They play important roles not only in infectious diseases and inflammation after stroke, but also in psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia. While recent studies suggest the significances of serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinases (SGKs) in other immune cells such as macrophages, T cells and dendritic cells, their role in microglia remains unknown. Here we, for the first time, report that SGK1 and SGK3 are expressed in multiple microglial cell lines. An SGK inhibitor, gsk650394, inhibits cell viability. In addition, lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of inflammatory regulators iNOS and TNFα was enhanced by gsk650394. Furthermore, translocation of NF-κB was enhanced by gsk650394. Taken together, these findings suggest that SGKs may play an important role in regulating microglial viability and inflammatory responses.

Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) antagonists regulate the pleiotropic actions of BMPs by binding to BMPs. We previously isolated the Neurogenesin-1 (Ng1) gene and found that Ng1 protein induces neuronal differentiation in the brain. In this study, we found that Ng1 was expressed in the primordial cells of the skeleton and investigated whether Ng1 protein inhibited the BMP action to induce osteoblastic differentiation in C2C12 myoblasts. Interestingly, Ng1 protein inhibited the BMP7-induced alkaline phosphatase activity while it did not inhibit the BMP2-induced activity. All data suggest that Ng1 protein plays an important role in the embryonic bone formation by differentially regulating BMPs.