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A Critical Period for Social Experience–Dependent Oligodendrocyte Maturation and Myelination

2012; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 337; Issue: 6100 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1220845

1095-9203

Manabu Makinodan, Kenneth M. Rosen, Susumu Ito, Gabriel Corfas,

Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior

A Critical Period for Glia The brain develops in fits and starts—while one system is completed, another system may still be under construction. Such transient states are known as critical periods, and during these specific aspects of brain development may become more sensitive to outside agents than they would be later. Makinodan et al. (p. 1357 ) observed the effect of environmental conditions on the brains of mice bioengineered to develop fluorescent oligodendrocytes. The mice were exposed to a variety of social conditions during rearing, ranging from isolation to a normal laboratory cage setting, or to settings enriched with extra buddies and a steady rotation of new play toys. The results show that social isolation leaves a developmental trace that persists into adulthood. Specifically, they found that oligodendrocytes, which produce the myelin that insulates neurons, were underdeveloped, suggesting that there may be a critical period that governs development of these glial oligodendrocyte cells.