Journal
BIOPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 101, Issue 11, Pages 2713-2720Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2011.10.026
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Funding
- Neurest Marie Curie Stipend
- International Max Planck Research School
- European Research Council
- European Molecular Biology Organization
- [Sonderforschungsbereich/Transregio8]
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Rapid conduction of nerve impulses requires coating of axons by myelin sheaths, which are multilamellar, lipid-rich membranes produced by oligodendrocytes in the central nervous system. To act as an insulator, myelin has to form a stable and firm membrane structure. In this study, we have analyzed the biophysical properties of myelin membranes prepared from wild-type mice and from mouse mutants that are unable to form stable myelin. Using C-Laurdan and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, we find that lipids are tightly organized and highly ordered in myelin isolated from wild-type mice, but not from shiverer and ceramide synthase 2 null mice. Furthermore, only myelin lipids from wild-type mice laterally segregate into physically distinct lipid phases in giant unilamellar vesicles in a process that requires very long chain glycosphingolipids. Taken together, our findings suggest that oligodendrocytes exploit the potential of lipids to self-segregate to generate a highly ordered membrane for electrical insulation of axons.
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