Da. Vouyiouklis et Pj. Brophy, MICROTUBULE-ASSOCIATED PROTEIN MAP1B EXPRESSION PRECEDES THE MORPHOLOGICAL-DIFFERENTIATION OF OLIGODENDROCYTES, Journal of neuroscience research, 35(3), 1993, pp. 257-267
The microtubule-associated protein MAP1B is believed to play an import
ant role in the outgrowth of neurites from neurons (Tucker and Matus,
Dev Biol 130:423-434, 1988). We have investigated the possibility that
MAP1B might participate in the formation of processes in cultured oli
godendrocytes by an analysis of the expression of MAP1B during oligode
ndrocyte progenitor development. The appearance of the antigens recogn
ized by the monoclonal antibodies A2B5, O4, and O1 which define distin
ct stages in the maturation of progenitors, was compared with the deve
lopmental expression of MAP1B. MAP1B is first detectable in O4+ preoli
godendrocytes prior to the acquisition of galactocerebroside and immed
iately before they develop the complex process-bearing morphology char
acteristic of terminally differentiated myelin-forming oligodendrocyte
s in the CNS. In contrast, astrocytes have negligible amounts of MAP1B
. These results demonstrate that the expression of MAP1B precedes the
development of the mature oligodendrocyte phenotype and suggest that i
nteractions between microtubules and MAP1B might have a role in the fo
rmation and stabilization of myelin-forming processes.