Lecture IX Flashcards
What is a mechanism that leads to neuropathies?
unfolded protein response (UPR)
What are hereditary neuropathies?
diseases that are inherited and affect the nervous system
What is myelin?
it is a layer that wraps around the axon and insulates nerves to allow for faster conduction of nerve impulses
it is a protrusion of schwann cells
*Nodes of Ranvier are an exception
What are schwann cells?
a type of glial cell in the PNS that help separate and insulate nerve cells
How many times do schwann cells wrap around the axon?
more than 100
What are the 2 types of schwann cells?
myelinating and non-myelinating
What happens to schwann cells if there is nerve injury?
they can de-differentiate and go back to immature schwann cell types through the activation of negative regulators of myelination (c-Jun)
What is a difference in the PNS that cannot be found in the CNS?
schwann cells are in the PNS and very plasting, which means they are able to differentiate when there is an injury in the myelin or spinal cord and then can remyelinate
What happens when there are problems in the system that gives rise to myelination?
there is a hereditary kind of neuropathy (Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT)
What is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the PNS?
Charcot-Marie Tooth
What can Charcot-Marie-Tooth be divided into?
CMT1: demyelinating
CMT2: axonal type based on electrophysiology and morphology
Describe how the nerves of the patients might look:
normal nerve: myelin surrounds axon
case of CMT1A: loss of fiber and in some axons, the onion bulb structure is visible
Dejerine-Sottas Syndrome (DSS): severe in childrena nd their nerve and muscle impulses never develop properly and they have huge nerve onion bulbs
What is the most present protein in the myelin of peripheral nerves?
myelin Protein 0 (P0)
What is myelin Protein 0?
trans-membrane protein which has an extracellular domain and folds like an immunoglobulin domain
Where are there more than 200 different mutations that cause CMT?
P0
Why does P0 form tetramers?
to allow for the packing of the myelin
How is the intracellular space of the schwann cell completely squished and held?
via P0
What happens if there is an absence of P0?
axons are surrounded by schwann cells, but myelin is not formed
What did the deletion of serin 63 (s63del) cause?
classical CMT1 demyelinating disease
What happened with the substitution of S63 with S63C?
caused DSS (more severe phenotype)
Review the 3 main pathways of UPR:
What does the retainment of proteins in the ER usually trigger first?
PERK pathway
What does it mean that the UPR is adaptive?
on one side, there is misfolded protein in the ER
eIF2𝛼 is activated to reduce protein translation
other genes are also activated to try to fold protein or degrade it
What happens in UPR if stress is chronic?
it becomes maladaptive:
through ATF4, there is activation of another transcription factor called CHOP, which leads to the activation of genes (GADD34) which are involved in apoptosis
How can it be that a protein that is only active in myelin is retained in the ER and causing demyelinating neuropathy?
GADD34 is allowing translation to proceed and the removal results in translation to be attenutated and the cells producing less protein (P0 in schwann cells)
*as a result, if there is less protein in the ER, there should be a reduction in stress because the cells produce less protein
What does stress deriving from mutant protein lead to?
eIF2𝛼 being phosphorylated and translation attenuated
What is eIF2𝛼 phosphorylation important for?
protect cells from having a disrupted phenotype
What levels are decreased in the mutant without eIF2𝛼?
ATF4 and CHOP
*this was expected as they are downstream the phosphorylation of eIF2𝛼
What was the lack of phosphorylation of eIF2𝛼 doing?
telling the cell to stop myelinating
What is a gene that is a strong regulator of myelination?
c-Jun