Visual deprivation induces transient upregulation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the subcortical white matter of mouse visual cortex

Abstract

Sensory experience influences proliferation and differentiation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs). Enhanced sensorimotor experience promoted the lineage progression of OPCs and myelination in the gray matter and white matter (WM) of sensorimotor cortex. In the visual cortex, reduced experience reportedly delayed the maturation of myelination in the gray matter, but whether and how such experience alters the subcortical WM is unclear. Here we investigated if binocular enucleation from the onset of eye opening (i.e., P15) affects the cell state of OPCs in mouse primary visual cortex (V1). Proliferative cells in the WM declined nearly half over 3 days from postnatal day (P) 25. A 3-day BrdU-labeling showed gradual decline in proliferation rates from P19 to P28. Binocular enucleation resulted in an increase in the cycling state of the OPCs that were proliferated from P22 to P25 but not before or after this period. This increase in proliferative OPCs was not associated with lineage progression toward differentiated oligodendrocytes. Proliferative OPCs arose mostly due to symmetric cell division but also asymmetric formation of proliferative and quiescent OPCs. By P30, almost all the proliferated cells exited the cell cycle. Maturing oligodendrocytes among the proliferated cells increased at this age, but most of them disappeared over 25 days. The cell density of the maturing oligodendrocytes was unaffected by binocular enucleation, however. These data suggest that binocular enucleation transiently elevates proliferative OPCs in the subcortical WM of V1 during a specific period of the fourth postnatal week without subsequently affecting the number of maturing oligodendrocytes several days later.

Oligodendrocyte precursor cells engulf synaptic inputs in an experience- and microglia-dependent manner

“…Here, we place these observations within an important neurobiological context by showing that OPCs engulf more synaptic material when visual experience is heightened, and that this sensory-dependent increase in OPC-mediated engulfment requires microglia. The ability of OPCs to detect changes in sensory experience is consistent with previous reports demonstrating that sensory input, and neuronal activity more generally, regulate OPC maturation and proliferation, as well as oligodendrogenesis 24,27 . Additionally, microglia are known to contribute to OPC survival, development, and maintenance in adulthood 28,29 .…”

Sensitive timing of undifferentiation in oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and their enhanced maturation in primary visual cortex of binocularly enucleated mice

“…All experiments used C57BL/J mice (postnatal days (P) . All enucleation procedures were based on previous description [22][23][24] and have been approved by the IACUC (Approval No. 170015, 18013, 190009, 20008, 21006).…”