TY  - JOUR
AU  - Fitzgerald, Julia C
AU  - Sun, Ying
AU  - Reinecke, Frederek
AU  - Bauer, Elisabeth
AU  - Garaschuk, Olga
AU  - Kahle, Philipp J
AU  - Pfeiffer, Friederike
TI  - Interactions of Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells and Dopaminergic Neurons in the Mouse Substantia Nigra.
JO  - Journal of neurochemistry
VL  - 169
IS  - 1
SN  - 0022-3042
CY  - Oxford
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
M1  - DZNE-2025-00282
SP  - e16298
PY  - 2025
AB  - Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease caused by the death of dopaminergic neurons within the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) region of the midbrain. Recent genomic and single cell sequencing data identified oligodendrocytes and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) to confer genetic risk in PD, but their biological role is unknown. Although SNpc dopaminergic neurons are scarcely or thinly myelinated, there is a gap in the knowledge concerning the physiological interactions between dopaminergic neurons and oligodendroglia. We sought to investigate the distribution of OPCs with regard to the myelination state in the mouse substantia nigra (SN) by high-resolution imaging to provide a morphological assessment of OPC-dopaminergic neuron interactions and quantification of cell numbers across different age groups. OPCs are evenly distributed in the midbrain throughout the lifespan and they physically interact with both the soma and axons of dopaminergic neurons. The presence of OPCs and their interaction with dopaminergic neurons does not correlate with the distribution of myelin. Myelination is sparse in the SNpc, including dopaminergic fibers originating from the SNpc and projecting through the substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr). We report that OPCs and dopaminergic neurons exist in a 1:1 ratio in the SNpc, with OPCs accounting for 15
KW  - Dopaminergic Neurons: physiology
KW  - Animals
KW  - Dopaminergic Neurons: metabolism
KW  - Mice
KW  - Substantia Nigra: cytology
KW  - Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells: metabolism
KW  - Mice, Inbred C57BL
KW  - Male
KW  - Female
KW  - Myelin Sheath: metabolism
KW  - Oligodendroglia
KW  - Cell Communication: physiology
KW  - Substantia Nigra: metabolism
KW  - Substantia Nigra: physiology
KW  - Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells: physiology
KW  - OPCs (Other)
KW  - Parkinson's disease (Other)
KW  - SNpc (Other)
KW  - dopaminergic neurons (Other)
KW  - midbrain (Other)
KW  - mouse brain (Other)
KW  - oligodendrocyte precursor cells (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:39871627
C2  - pmc:PMC11773302
DO  - DOI:10.1111/jnc.16298
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/276319
ER  -