Oligodendrocytes extend thin processes of their cell membranes to form the myelin sheaths that wrap around neuronal axons.WIKIMEDIA, LADYOFHATSChanges in myelin, the fatty sheaths that insulate neuronal axons, may play a role in motor learning, according to a study published today (October 16) in Science. Genetically engineered mice that could not produce myelin were less skilled at learning a new motor task—running on a wheel with unevenly spaced rungs—than control mice.
“The paper shows very clearly that the ability to generate new myelin is necessary for adult mice to learn a complex motor task,” said the University of Michigan’s Gabriel Corfas, author of an accompanying commentary in Science and who was not involved in the research.
Moreover, because myelin is produced by non-neuronal glial cells called oligodendrocytes, which myelinate axons by extending thin processes of their cell membranes to wrap around them, the study challenges the long-standing assumption that learning results exclusively from changes to neuronal anatomy or function. “What this paper really does in a very compelling and elegant way is show that the glial cells . . . really perform much more important tasks than had hitherto been assigned to them,” said Robin Franklin, ...
