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Nervous Tissue: Myelin

Nervous Tissue: Myelin

The myelin sheath is a multilayered lipid and protein covering that insulates the axon of a neuron, enhancing the speed of nerve impulse conduction. Axons without this sheath are referred to as unmyelinated. Two types of neuroglia, Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) are responsible for producing myelin sheaths.
Schwann cells begin to form myelin sheaths around axons during fetal development. They wrap around a small...

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Assessing Microglial Phagocytosis of Myelin Debris in vitro Under Repeated Magnetic Stimulation

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Isolation of myelin.

Jorge N Larocca¹, Williams T Norton

¹Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York, USA.

Current Protocols in Cell Biology

|January 30, 2008

Summary

This study details methods for isolating myelin, a key component of nervous tissue. Optimized protocols enable purification of myelin membranes from both central and peripheral nervous systems.

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Biochemistry
Cell Biology

Background:

Myelin is a crucial lipid-rich insulating sheath surrounding nerve axons.
Effective isolation of myelin membranes is essential for studying its composition and function.

Purpose of the Study:

To outline established and reliable protocols for myelin preparation.
To enable the isolation and subfractionation of myelin from nervous tissue.

Main Methods:

Homogenization of nervous tissue in isotonic sucrose solution.
Differential centrifugation and density gradient centrifugation for myelin vesicle isolation.
Specific protocols for central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) myelin.

Main Results:

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Assessing Microglial Phagocytosis of Myelin Debris in vitro Under Repeated Magnetic Stimulation

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Myelin sheath peels from axons, forming large, low-density vesicles.
Density gradient and differential centrifugation effectively isolate these vesicles.
Protocols yield highly-purified CNS myelin and allow for subfractionation by density.

Conclusions:

Established centrifugation techniques are effective for myelin isolation.
The described methods facilitate the study of myelin structure and biochemistry.
These protocols are applicable to both CNS and PNS myelin research.