[Progress in the studies on the effect of oligodendroglial cytoskeleton in myelination]

Oligodendrocytes are myelin forming cells in central nerve system, which arise from oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) following a series development processes: The mechanism of myelination has become one of the hot point in neurosciences research. Recently, the cytoskeleton of oligodendrocyte has been considered to play an important role in this process. Mediated by a series of intracellular and extracellular signaling moleculues and lipid raft, the cytoskeleton of oligodendrocytes regulates morphological changes of cells and results in terminal differentiation or maturation of oligodendrocytes. The simple processes of cells gradually become highly ramified, and extend the membrane to wrap the neuronal axons to form the myelin layers. Finally, the compaction of myelin layers by the reorganization of cytoskeleton leads to formation of the mature myelin sheath.