Neural Crest - Schwann Cell Development

Embryology - 16 Apr 2024 Expand to Translate
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Introduction

Schwann cells wrap around nerve axon processes outside of the central nervous system. These cells in development originate from neural crest cells migrating out along the developing nerve fibers and these cells differentiate to form myelin sheaths that surround the mature nerve.

The cells are named after their original discoverer a German physiologist Theodor Schwann (1810 - 1882).

Myelination

These projects are the sole work of undergraduate science students and may contain errors in fact or descriptions.

Historic Embryology - Neural Crest
1879 Olfactory Organ \| 1905 Cranial and Spinal Nerves \| 1908 10 mm Peripheral \| 1910 Mammal Sympathetic \| 1920 Human Sympathetic \| 1928 Cranial ganglia \| 1939 10 Somite Embryo \| 1942 Origin \| 1957 Adrenal

Some Recent Findings

How Schwann Cells Sort Axons: New Concepts^[1] "Peripheral nerves contain large myelinated and small unmyelinated (Remak) fibers that perform different functions. The choice to myelinate or not is dictated to Schwann cells by the axon itself, based on the amount of neuregulin I-type III exposed on its membrane. Peripheral axons are more important in determining the final myelination fate than central axons, and the implications for this difference in Schwann cells and oligodendrocytes are discussed. Interestingly, this choice is reversible during pathology, accounting for the remarkable plasticity of Schwann cells, and contributing to the regenerative potential of the peripheral nervous system. Radial sorting is the process by which Schwann cells choose larger axons to myelinate during development."
Schwann cell precursors from nerve innervation are a cellular origin of melanocytes in skin^[2]"Current opinion holds that pigment cells, melanocytes, are derived from neural crest cells produced at the dorsal neural tube and that migrate under the epidermis to populate all parts of the skin. Here, we identify growing nerves projecting throughout the body as a stem/progenitor niche containing Schwann cell precursors (SCPs) from which large numbers of skin melanocytes originate. SCPs arise as a result of lack of neuronal specification by Hmx1 homeobox gene function in the neural crest ventral migratory pathway. Schwann cell and melanocyte development share signaling molecules with both the glial and melanocyte cell fates intimately linked to nerve contact and regulated in an opposing manner by Neuregulin and soluble signals including insulin-like growth factor and platelet-derived growth factor. These results reveal SCPs as a cellular origin of melanocytes, and have broad implications on the molecular mechanisms regulating skin pigmentation during development, in health and pigmentation disorders."
Neural crest origin of olfactory ensheathing glia^[3] "Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are a unique class of glial cells with exceptional translational potential because of their ability to support axon regeneration in the central nervous system. Although OECs are similar in many ways to immature and nonmyelinating Schwann cells, and can myelinate large-diameter axons indistinguishably from myelination by Schwann cells, current dogma holds that OECs arise from the olfactory epithelium. Here, using fate-mapping techniques in chicken embryos and genetic lineage tracing in mice, we show that OECs in fact originate from the neural crest and hence share a common developmental heritage with Schwann cells."

Schwann cell myelination

Mouse- spinal cord axons

Schmidt-Lanterman cleft

References

↑ <pubmed>25686621</pubmed>
↑ <pubmed>19837037</pubmed>
↑ <pubmed>21078992</pubmed>

Reviews

Articles

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Search Dec 2010 "Schwann Cell Development" All (4257) Review (571) Free Full Text (851)

Search Pubmed: Schwann Cell Development | Schwann Cell | Schwann Myelination Development

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Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, April 16) Embryology Neural Crest - Schwann Cell Development. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Neural_Crest_-_Schwann_Cell_Development

What Links Here?

[PMID25686621-1] <pubmed>25686621</pubmed>

[PMID19837037-2] <pubmed>19837037</pubmed>

[PMID21078992-3] <pubmed>21078992</pubmed>

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