Publications by authors named "Helene O B Gautier"
Brain tissue stiffness is a sensitive marker for acidosis.
J Neurosci Methods
September 2016
Background: Carbon dioxide overdose is frequently used to cull rodents for tissue harvesting. However, this treatment may lead to respiratory acidosis, which potentially could change the properties of the investigated tissue.
New Method: Mechanical tissue properties often change in pathological conditions and may thus offer a sensitive generic readout for changes in biological tissues with clinical relevance.
Microglia mechanics: immune activation alters traction forces and durotaxis.
Front Cell Neurosci
October 2015
Microglial cells are key players in the primary immune response of the central nervous system. They are highly active and motile cells that chemically and mechanically interact with their environment. While the impact of chemical signaling on microglia function has been studied in much detail, the current understanding of mechanical signaling is very limited.
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- Myelin regeneration can happen naturally in diseases like multiple sclerosis, but it often fails, and researchers are exploring why.
- In a study using an animal model, it was found that damaged axons are active and form new connections with oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), which are sensitive to neuronal activity.
- Blocking neuronal activity reduces the differentiation of OPCs into myelinating cells, indicating that neuronal signaling is crucial for effective remyelination; this suggests new potential therapeutic targets.
Atomic force microscopy-based force measurements on animal cells and tissues.
Methods Cell Biol
September 2015
Article Synopsis
- During development and in certain diseases, cells respond to both biochemical and mechanical signals.
- Over the last 20 years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has emerged as a crucial method for exploring the mechanical properties of biological samples.
- This chapter covers various AFM applications, focusing on the mechanics of the nervous system, while also highlighting its combination with other microscopy techniques to enhance our understanding of cell and tissue mechanics.
Myelination is essential for rapid impulse conduction in the CNS, but what determines whether an individual axon becomes myelinated remains unknown. Here we show, using a myelinating coculture system, that there are two distinct modes of myelination, one that is independent of neuronal activity and glutamate release and another that depends on neuronal action potentials releasing glutamate to activate NMDA receptors on oligodendrocyte lineage cells. Neuregulin switches oligodendrocytes from the activity-independent to the activity-dependent mode of myelination by increasing NMDA receptor currents in oligodendrocyte lineage cells 6-fold.
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