Innexin-Mediated Adhesion between Glia Is Required for Axon Ensheathment in the Peripheral Nervous System.

Glia are essential to protecting and enabling nervous system function and a key glial function is the formation of the glial sheath around peripheral axons. Each peripheral nerve in the larva is ensheathed by three glial layers, which structurally support and insulate the peripheral axons. How peripheral glia communicate with each other and between layers is not well established and we investigated the role of Innexins in mediating glial function in the periphery.

Basigin Associates with Integrin in Order to Regulate Perineurial Glia and Nervous System Morphology.

The nervous system is ensheathed by a layer of outer glial cells, the perineurial glia, and a specialized extracellular matrix, the neural lamella. The function of perineurial glial cells and how they interact with the extracellular matrix are just beginning to be elucidated. Integrin-based focal adhesion complexes link the glial membrane to the extracellular matrix, but little is known about integrin's regulators in the glia.