Lysophosphatidic acid signaling via LPA : A negative modulator of developmental oligodendrocyte maturation.

The developmental process of central nervous system (CNS) myelin sheath formation is characterized by well-coordinated cellular activities ultimately ensuring rapid and synchronized neural communication. During this process, myelinating CNS cells, namely oligodendrocytes (OLGs), undergo distinct steps of differentiation, whereby the progression of earlier maturation stages of OLGs represents a critical step toward the timely establishment of myelinated axonal circuits. Given the complexity of functional integration, it is not surprising that OLG maturation is controlled by a yet fully to be defined set of both negative and positive modulators.