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During development, neuregulin-1 promotes Schwann cell proliferation and survival; its role in later events of Schwann cell differentiation, including myelination, is poorly understood. Accordingly, we have examined the effects of neuregulin-1 on myelination in neuron-Schwann cell cocultures. Glial growth factor (GGF), a neuregulin-1 isoform, significantly inhibited myelination by preventing axonal segregation and ensheathment. Basal lamina formation was not affected. Treatment of established myelinated cultures with GGF resulted in striking demyelination that frequently began at the paranodes and progressed to the internode. Demyelination was dose dependent and accompanied by dedifferentiation of Schwann cells to a promyelinating stage, as evidenced by reexpression of the transcription factor suppressed cAMP-inducible POU; a significant proportion of cells with extensive demyelination also proliferated. Two other Schwann cell mitogens, fibroblast growth factor-2 and transforming growth factor-beta, inhibited myelination but did not cause demyelination, suggesting this effect is specific to the neuregulins. The neuregulin receptor proteins, erbB2 and erbB3, are expressed on ensheathing and myelinating Schwann cells and rapidly phosphorylated with GGF treatment. GGF treatment of myelinating cultures also induced phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, mitogen-activated protein kinase, and a 120-kD protein. These results suggest that neuronal mitogens, including the neuregulins, may inhibit myelination during development and that activation of mitogen signaling pathways may contribute to the initial demyelination and subsequent Schwann cell proliferation observed in various pathologic conditions.

In the adult peripheral nerve, microvillous processes of myelinating Schwann cells project to the nodes of Ranvier; their composition and physiologic function have not been established. As the ezrin-radixin-moesin (ERM) proteins are expressed in the microvilli of many epithelial cells, we have examined the expression and distribution of these proteins in Schwann cells and neurons in vitro and in vivo. Cultured Schwann cells express high levels of all three proteins and the ezrin-binding protein 50, whereas neurons express much lower, although detectable, levels of radixin and moesin. Ezrin is specific for Schwann cells. All three ERM proteins are expressed predominantly at the membrane of cultured Schwann cells, notably in their microvilli. In vivo, the ERM proteins are concentrated strikingly in the nodal processes of myelinating Schwann cells. Because these processes are devoid of myelin proteins, they represent a unique compartment of the myelinating Schwann cell. During development, the ERM proteins become concentrated at the ends of Schwann cells before myelin basic protein expression, demonstrating that Schwann cells are polarized longitudinally at the onset of myelination. ERM-positive Schwann cell processes overlie and are associated closely with nascent nodes of Ranvier, identified by clusters of ankyrin G. Ankyrin accumulation at the node precedes that of Caspr at the paranodes and therefore does not depend on the presence of mature paranodal junctions. These results demonstrate that nodes of Ranvier in the peripheral nervous system form in contact with specialized processes of myelinating Schwann cells that are highly enriched in ERM proteins.

Schwann cell proliferation is regulated by multiple growth factors and axonal signals. However, the molecules that control growth arrest of Schwann cells are not well defined. Here we describe regulation of the cyclin-dependent kinase-2 (CDK2) protein, an enzyme that is necessary for the transition from G1 to S phase. Levels of CDK2 protein were elevated in proliferating Schwann cells cultured in serum and forskolin. However, when cells were grown with either serum-free media or at high densities, CDK2 levels declined to low levels. The decrease in CDK2 levels was associated with growth arrest of Schwann cells. The modulation of CDK2 appears to be regulated at the transcriptional level, because CDK2 mRNA levels and its promoter activity both decline during cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, analysis of the CDK2 promoter suggests that Sp1 DNA binding sites are essential for maximal activation in Schwann cells. Together, these data suggest that CDK2 may represent a significant target of developmental signals that regulate Schwann cell proliferation and that this regulation is mediated, in part, through regulation of Sp1 transcriptional activity.

Efficient and rapid conduction of action potentials by saltatory conduction requires the clustering of voltage-gated sodium channels at nodes of Ranvier. This clustering results from interactions between neurons and myelinating glia, although it has not been established whether this glial signal is contact-dependent or soluble. To investigate the nature of this signal, we examined sodium channel clustering in co-cultures of embryonic rat dorsal root ganglion neurons and Schwann cells. Cultures maintained under conditions promoting or preventing myelination were immunostained with antibodies against the alpha subunit of the sodium channel and against ankyrin(G), a cytoskeletal protein associated with these channels. Consistent with previous in vivo studies (Vabnick et al., 1996), sodium channels and ankyrin G cluster at the onset of myelination. These clusters form adjacent to the ends of the myelinating Schwann cells and appear to fuse to form mature nodes. In contrast, sodium channels and ankyrin G do not cluster in neurons grown alone or in co-cultures where myelination is precluded by growing cells in defined media. Conditioned media from myelinating co-cultures also failed to induce sodium channel or ankyrin G clusters in cultures of neurons alone. Finally, no clusters develop in the amyelinated portions of suspended fascicles of dorsal root ganglia explants despite being in close proximity to myelinated segments in other areas of the dish. These results indicate that clustering of sodium channels requires contact with myelinating Schwann cells.

We have investigated the potential role of contactin and contactin-associated protein (Caspr) in the axonal-glial interactions of myelination. In the nervous system, contactin is expressed by neurons, oligodendrocytes, and their progenitors, but not by Schwann cells. Expression of Caspr, a homologue of Neurexin IV, is restricted to neurons. Both contactin and Caspr are uniformly expressed at high levels on the surface of unensheathed neurites and are downregulated during myelination in vitro and in vivo. Contactin is downregulated along the entire myelinated nerve fiber. In contrast, Caspr expression initially remains elevated along segments of neurites associated with nascent myelin sheaths. With further maturation, Caspr is downregulated in the internode and becomes strikingly concentrated in the paranodal regions of the axon, suggesting that it redistributes from the internode to these sites. Caspr expression is similarly restricted to the paranodes of mature myelinated axons in the peripheral and central nervous systems; it is more diffusely and persistently expressed in gray matter and on unmyelinated axons. Immunoelectron microscopy demonstrated that Caspr is localized to the septate-like junctions that form between axons and the paranodal loops of myelinating cells. Caspr is poorly extracted by nonionic detergents, suggesting that it is associated with the axon cytoskeleton at these junctions. These results indicate that contactin and Caspr function independently during myelination and that their expression is regulated by glial ensheathment. They strongly implicate Caspr as a major transmembrane component of the paranodal junctions, whose molecular composition has previously been unknown, and suggest its role in the reciprocal signaling between axons and glia.