The mechanism of chronic demyelination in PLP transgenic mice - An animal model of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

AbstractPlp-tg mice are hemizygous mice (Plptg/-) which have two additional copies of the Plp gene and express about 30 % more Plp transcripts than wild-type (WT) mice. The mechanisms of long-term demyelination and the impairment of remyelination of Plp-tg mice are not known yet. Ita??s an indispendable model for the late stage of MS.The present study investigated the mechanism of demyelination and the impairment of remyelination in the Plp-tg mouse. We found that the higher ratio of immature to mature OLs in Plp-tg mice is probably due to the failure of terminal differentiation of oligodendrocytes and to the high rate of apoptosis in mature oligodendrocytes. We suggest that cytokines produced by CD4+ T cells, and microglia may also inhibit oligodendrocyte terminal differentiation, although further experiments need to be carried out to investigate this hypothesis.