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Updated: Oct 24, 2025

Preparation of Rat Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cultures and Quantification of Oligodendrogenesis Using Dual-infrared Fluorescence Scanning
Published on: February 17, 2016
Oligodendroglial ring finger protein Rnf43 is an essential injury-specific regulator of oligodendrocyte maturation
Jianqin Niu1, Guangdan Yu2, Xiaorui Wang2
1Department of Neurology, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Histology and Embryology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China; Institute of Brain and Intelligence, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400038, China.
Abstract:
Oligodendrocyte (OL) maturation arrest in human white matter injury contributes significantly to the failure of endogenous remyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) and newborn brain injuries such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) that cause cerebral palsy. In this study, we identify an oligodendroglial-intrinsic factor that controls OL maturation specifically in the setting of injury. We find a requirement for the ring finger protein Rnf43 not in normal development but in neonatal hypoxic injury and remyelination in the adult mammalian CNS. Rnf43, but not the related Znrf3, is potently activated by Wnt signaling in OL progenitor cells (OPCs) and marks activated OPCs in human MS and HIE. Rnf43 is required in an injury-specific context, and it promotes OPC differentiation through negative regulation of Wnt signal strength in OPCs at the level of Fzd1 receptor presentation on the cell surface. Inhibition of Fzd1 using UM206 promotes remyelination following ex vivo and in vivo demyelinating injury.
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