Inward rectifying Kir4.1 channels regulate oligodendrocyte precursor cell differentiation and CNS myelination in vivo

Jia-Yu Liu; Liang Zhou; Ying Shen

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137278

Inward rectifying K_ir4.1 channels regulate oligodendrocyte precursor cell differentiation and CNS myelination in vivo

Neurosci Lett. 2023 Jun 11:807:137278. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137278. Epub 2023 Apr 26.

Authors

Jia-Yu Liu¹, Liang Zhou², Ying Shen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology and Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory of Brain Science, Guizhou Institution of Higher Education, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Physiology and Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: yshen@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 37116573
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137278

Abstract

The functions of K_ir4.1 in oligodendrocyte development have been in controversial. We recently reported that inhibiting K_ir4.1 impeded oligodendrocyte precursor cell (OPC) differentiation and oligodendrocyte (OL) maturation, due to K_ir4.1 altering intracellular pH of OPCs through Na⁺/H⁺ exchangers. However, our conclusion was limited by in vitro observation, thereby it becomes necessary to seek in vivo evidence to determine the roles of K_ir4.1 on OPC development and CNS myelination. Here, we used Olig1-Cre to knockout K_ir4.1 in OPCs from the early developmental stage. We found that the cell-specific deletion of K_ir4.1 significantly impeded OPC differentiation and reduced the number of mature OLs in the cerebral cortex and the corpus callosum. Hence, our in vivo evidence supports that K_ir4.1 can regulate OPC differentiation and is essential to CNS myelination.

Keywords: Differentiation; Inwardly-rectifying channel; Myelination; Oligodendrocyte precursor cell.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Differentiation / physiology
Mice
Mice, Knockout
Myelin Sheath / physiology
Neurogenesis
Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells*
Oligodendroglia / physiology