Expression of CD1d by astrocytes corresponds with relative activity in multiple sclerosis lesions.

The CD1 protein family present lipid antigens to the immune system. CD1d has been observed in the CNS of MS patients, yet no studies have quantitatively characterized this expression and related it to inflammatory demyelinative activity in MS plaques. In this study, we set out to localize and quantify the presence of CD1d expression by astrocytes in MS brain tissue lesions. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded MS and control brain tissues were examined. Lesions were classified as active, chronic active or chronic silent. Using immunofluorescence, the density of CD1d-positive cells was determined in active lesions, chronic active lesion edges and chronic active lesion centers. The percentage of CD1d-positive cells that were GFAP-positive was also determined in each of these regions. CD1d immunoreactivity was significantly increased in MS compared to control tissue, was significantly more prevalent in areas of active demyelination, and colocalized with GFAP-positive reactive astrocytes. Increases of CD1d immunoreactivity in the CNS of MS patients being greatest in areas of active demyelination and localized to GFAP-positive astrocytes lend support to the hypothesis of a lipid-targeted autoimmune process contributing to the pathogenesis of MS.

Temporally Segmented Directionality in the Motor Cortex.

Developing models of the dynamic and complex patterns of information processing that take place during behavior is a major thrust of systems neuroscience. An underlying assumption of many models is that the same set of rules applies across different conditions. This has been the case for directional tuning during volitional movement; a single cosine function has been remarkably robust for describing the encoding of movement direction in different types of neurons, in many locations of the nervous system, and even across species. However, detailed examination of the tuning time course in motor cortex suggests that direction coding may be labile. Here, we show that there are discrete time epochs within single reaches, between which individual neurons change their tuning. Our findings suggest that motor cortical activity patterns may reflect consistent changes in the state of the control system during center-out reaching. These transitions are likely linked to different behavioral components, suggesting that the task defines changes in the operational structure of the control system.

Myelin regulatory factor drives remyelination in multiple sclerosis.

Remyelination is limited in the majority of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions despite the presence of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in most lesions. This observation has led to the view that a failure of OPCs to fully differentiate underlies remyelination failure. OPC differentiation requires intricate transcriptional regulation, which may be disrupted in chronic MS lesions. The expression of few transcription factors has been differentially compared between remyelinating lesions and lesions refractory to remyelination. In particular, the oligodendrocyte transcription factor myelin regulatory factor (MYRF) is essential for myelination during development, but its role during remyelination and expression in MS lesions is unknown. To understand the role of MYRF during remyelination, we genetically fate mapped OPCs following lysolecithin-induced demyelination of the corpus callosum in mice and determined that MYRF is expressed in new oligodendrocytes. OPC-specific Myrf deletion did not alter recruitment or proliferation of these cells after demyelination, but decreased the density of new glutathione S-transferase π positive oligodendrocytes. Subsequent remyelination in both the spinal cord and corpus callosum is highly impaired following Myrf deletion from OPCs. Individual OPC-derived oligodendrocytes, produced in response to demyelination, showed little capacity to express myelin proteins following Myrf deletion. Collectively, these data demonstrate a crucial role of MYRF in the transition of oligodendrocytes from a premyelinating to a myelinating phenotype during remyelination. In the human brain, we find that MYRF is expressed in NogoA and CNP-positive oligodendrocytes. In MS, there was both a lower density and proportion of oligodendrocyte lineage cells and NogoA+ oligodendrocytes expressing MYRF in chronically demyelinated lesions compared to remyelinated shadow plaques. The relative scarcity of oligodendrocyte lineage cells expressing MYRF in demyelinated MS lesions demonstrates, for the first time, that chronic lesions lack oligodendrocytes that express this necessary transcription factor for remyelination and supports the notion that a failure to fully differentiate underlies remyelination failure.

Metrology and modeling of microchannel plate x-ray optics.

A Monte Carlo ray-trace model of nonideal microchannel plate (MCP) x-ray optics is described. The model takes into account angular misalignments, both transverse and axial, between the channels and the multifiber bundles; pincushion distortion of the square channels; radiusing of the channel vertices; and scattering from microroughness of the channel walls. The model also takes into account the spectrum and nonisotropic nature of the illuminating radiation. Using optical, scanning electron, and atomic force microscopies, as well as x-ray scattering data obtained with a laser plasma x-ray source, we have determined a partial error budget for the focusing action of a real square-pore MCP, leaving only the interchannel long-axis misalignment to be found by comparison of simulated and measured images. The power of the Monte Carlo model in directing the future development of MCP optics is illustrated.