Role of Axon-Schwann Cell Interactions in Nervous System Ionic Homeostasis.

摘要

The long term goal of the research program of this laboratory is to reach an understanding of the physiological interactions between neurons and their associated glia that relate to their ability to cooperatively regulate the ionic and neurohumoral milieu of the perineural and/or periaxonal space. To this end we have been investigating the mechanisms by which axons and neurons generate the chemical signals during their excitation that signals the glia to activate their metabolic and uptake processes that inactivate neurotransmitters preventing their accumulation to toxic concentrations and the transport of potassium and of sodium to maintain appropriate amounts of each ion in the perineural space thereby preserving excitability properties of the neural elements of the nervous system. For these investigations we have used the intact nerve fiber Schwann cell preparations of crayfish and squid to study nerve-Schwann cell interactions in intact systems and the mammalian Schwann cell culture to determine the generality of our findings to mammalian systems. Schwann cell, Glia, Nerve, Potassium homeostasis, Glutamate, Acetylcholine, Nerve-glia interaction.