Focal adhesion kinase can play unique and opposing roles in regulating the morphology of differentiating oligodendrocytes.

ABSTRACT: During development cells of the oligodendrocyte lineage undergo significant changes in morphology when they differentiate from migratory oligodendrocyte progenitors, which are mostly bipolar, into post-migratory pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes, which extend complex and expanded process networks, and then finally into mature oligodendrocytes, which generate myelin sheaths required for efficient signal propagation within the nervous system. This extensive morphological remodeling occurs in the context of a complex extracellular environment and requires significant rearrangement of the cell's cytoskeleton. The molecular mechanisms underlying this intricate integration of signals, however, remain poorly understood. A key regulator of extracellular matrix to cytoskeleton signaling is the non-r

SUBMITTER: Lafrenaye AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2939935 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature