Endogenous stem and precursor cells for demyelinating diseases: an alternative for transplantation?

Thyroid Hormone Potentially Benefits Multiple Sclerosis via Facilitating Remyelination

Myelin destruction due to inflammatory damage of oligodendrocytes (OLs) in conjunction with axonal degeneration is one of the major histopathological hallmarks of multiple sclerosis (MS), a common autoimmune disorder affecting the central nervous system (CNS). Therapies over the last 20 years mainly focus on the immune system and, more specifically, on the modulation of immune cell behavior. It seems to be effective in MS with relapse, while it is of little benefit to progressive MS in which neurodegeneration following demyelination outweighs inflammation. Otherwise, remyelination, as a result of oligodendrocyte production from oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), is considered to be a potential target for the treatment of progressive MS. In this review, positive effects of remyelination on MS will be discussed in view of the critical role played by thyroid hormone (TH), focusing on the following points: (1) promising treatment of TH on MS that potentially targets to remyelination; (2) the active role of TH that is able to promote remyelination; (3) the regulative role of TH that works on endogenous stem and precursor cells; (4) the effect of TH on gene transcription; and (5) a working hypothesis which is developed that TH can alleviate MS by promoting remyelination, and the mechanism of which is its regulative role in gene transcription of OPCs.

Oxidative modifications of cerebral transthyretin are associated with multiple sclerosis

Transthyretin (TTR) is a homotetrameric protein of the CNS that plays a role of as the major thyroxine (T4) carrier from blood to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). T4 physiologically helps oligodendrocyte precursor cells to turn into myelinating oligodendrocytes, enhancing remyelination after myelin sheet damage. We investigated post-translational oxidative modifications of serum and CSF TTR in multiple sclerosis subjects, highlighting high levels of S-sulfhydration and S-sulfonation of cysteine in position ten only in the cerebral TTR, which correlate with an anomalous TTR protein folding as well as with disease duration. Moreover, we found low levels of free T4 in CSF of multiple sclerosis patients, suggestive of a potential role of these modifications in T4 transport into the brain.

Oligodendrogenesis in the subventricular zone and the role of epidermal growth factor

Demyelinating diseases are characterized by an extensive loss of oligodendrocytes and myelin sheaths from axolemma. These neurological disorders are a common cause of disability in young adults, but so far, there is no effective treatment against them. It has been suggested that neural stem cells (NSCs) may play an important role in brain repair therapies. NSCs in the adult subventricular zone (SVZ), also known as Type-B cells, are multipotential cells that can self-renew and give rise to neurons and glia. Recent findings have shown that cells derived from SVZ Type-B cells actively respond to epidermal-growth-factor (EGF) stimulation becoming highly migratory and proliferative. Interestingly, a subpopulation of these EGF-activated cells expresses markers of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). When EGF administration is removed, SVZ-derived OPCs differentiate into myelinating and pre-myelinating oligodendrocytes in the white matter tracts of corpus callosum, fimbria fornix and striatum. In the presence of a demyelinating lesion, OPCs derived from EGF-stimulated SVZ progenitors contribute to myelin repair. Given their high migratory potential and their ability to differentiate into myelin-forming cells, SVZ NSCs represent an important endogenous source of OPCs for preserving the oligodendrocyte population in the white matter and for the repair of demyelinating injuries.

Epidermal growth factor induces the progeny of subventricular zone type B cells to migrate and differentiate into oligodendrocytes

New neurons and oligodendrocytes are continuously produced in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of adult mammalian brains. Under normal conditions, the SVZ primary precursors (type B1 cells) generate type C cells, most of which differentiate into neurons, with a small subpopulation giving rise to oligodendrocytes. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling induces dramatic proliferation and migration of SVZ progenitors, a process that could have therapeutic applications. However, the fate of cells derived from adult neural stem cells after EGF stimulation remains unknown. Here, we specifically labeled SVZ B1 cells and followed their progeny after a 7-day intraventricular infusion of EGF. Cells derived from SVZ B1 cells invaded the parenchyma around the SVZ into the striatum, septum, corpus callosum, and fimbria-fornix. Most of these B1-derived cells gave rise to cells in the oligodendrocyte lineage, including local NG2+ progenitors, and pre-myelinating and myelinating oligodendrocytes. SVZ B1 cells also gave rise to a population of highly-branched S100beta+/glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)+ cells in the striatum and septum, but no neuronal differentiation was observed. Interestingly, when demyelination was induced in the corpus callosum by a local injection of lysolecithin, an increased number of cells derived from SVZ B1 cells and stimulated to migrate and proliferate by EGF infusion differentiated into oligodendrocytes at the lesion site. This work indicates that EGF infusion can greatly expand the number of progenitors derived from the SVZ primary progenitors which migrate and differentiate into oligodendroglial cells. This expanded population could be used for the repair of white matter lesions.

Thyroxin regulates BDNF expression to promote survival of injured neurons

A growing amount of evidence indicates that neuronal trauma can induce a recapitulation of developmental-like mechanisms for neuronal survival and regeneration. Concurrently, ontogenic dependency of central neurons for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is lost during maturation but is re-acquired after injury. Here we show in organotypic hippocampal slices that thyroxin, the thyroid hormone essential for normal CNS development, induces up-regulation of BDNF upon injury. This change in the effect of thyroxin is crucial to promote survival and regeneration of damaged central neurons. In addition, the effect of thyroxin on the expression of the K-Cl cotransporter (KCC2), a marker of neuronal maturation, is changed from down to up-regulation. Notably, previous results in humans have shown that during the first few days after traumatic brain injury or spinal cord injury, thyroid hormone levels are often diminished. Our data suggest that maintaining normal levels of thyroxin during the early post-traumatic phase of CNS injury could have a therapeutically positive effect.