JCB logo
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 1648K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Balice-Gordon, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Scherer, S. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Balice-Gordon, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Scherer, S. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

© The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525/1998//1095 $5.00
The Journal of Cell Biology, Volume 142, Number 4, , 1998 1095-1104

Articles

Functional Gap Junctions in the Schwann Cell Myelin Sheath



Rita J. Balice-Gordon*, Linda J. Bone{ddagger}, and Steven S. Scherer{ddagger}

* Department of Neuroscience and {ddagger} Department of Neurology, The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6074

The Schwann cell myelin sheath is a multilamellar structure with distinct structural domains in which different proteins are localized. Intracellular dye injection and video microscopy were used to show that functional gap junctions are present within the myelin sheath that allow small molecules to diffuse between the adaxonal and perinuclear Schwann cell cytoplasm. Gap junctions are localized to periodic interruptions in the compact myelin called Schmidt–Lanterman incisures and to paranodes; these regions contain at least one gap junction protein, connexin32 (Cx32). The radial diffusion of low molecular weight dyes across the myelin sheath was not interrupted in myelinating Schwann cells from cx32-null mice, indicating that other connexins participate in forming gap junctions in these cells. Owing to the unique geometry of myelinating Schwann cells, a gap junction-mediated radial pathway may be essential for rapid diffusion between the adaxonal and perinuclear cytoplasm, since this radial pathway is approximately one million times faster than the circumferential pathway.

Key Words: myelin • gap junctions • glia • connexin • neuropathy • Schwann cell

Abbreviations used in this paper: AGA, 18-{alpha}-glycerrhetinic acid; CMTX, X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease; Cx32, connexin32; MAG, myelin-associated glycoprotein; PNS, peripheral nervous system; SIT, silicon-intensified target.

Address all correspondence to R.J. Balice-Gordon, Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 215 Stemmler Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6074. Tel.: (215) 898-1037. Fax: (215) 573-9050. E-mail: rbaliceg{at}mail.med.upenn.edu

A portion of these results has appeared in abstract form (Bone, L.J., S.S. Scherer, and R.J. Balice-Gordon. 1996. The role of the gap junction protein connexin32 in myelinating Schwann cells. Soc. Neurosa Abstracts. 22:1981).


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents