Glimpsing Myelin's Protein Glue

摘要

A nerve signal can zip from your spinal cord to the tip of your toe in less than 25 milliseconds. But such rapid nerve transmission is only possible because the axons, the long neuronal projections that carry the signals, have very good electrical insulation. Layers of tightly packed cell membranes wrap the axons much like gauze wrapped around an injured finger, forming an insulating sheath known as myelin. Two papers appearing in this month's issue of Neuron now help explain how these tightly wrapped layers are glued together in peripheral nerves and how some mutations weaken the glue, leading to neurological disease.