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Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology

The presence of bones around the central nervous system (CNS) provides it with highly effective physiologically crucial mechanical protection. The peripheral nervous system (PNS), in contrast, lacks this barrier. Consequently, the long held belief is that the PNS is mechanically vulnerable. On the o...

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Autores principales: Rosso, Gonzalo, Young, Peter, Shahin, Victor
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5660964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29118694
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2017.00345
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author Rosso, Gonzalo
Young, Peter
Shahin, Victor
author_facet Rosso, Gonzalo
Young, Peter
Shahin, Victor
author_sort Rosso, Gonzalo
collection PubMed
description The presence of bones around the central nervous system (CNS) provides it with highly effective physiologically crucial mechanical protection. The peripheral nervous system (PNS), in contrast, lacks this barrier. Consequently, the long held belief is that the PNS is mechanically vulnerable. On the other hand, the PNS is exposed to a variety of physiological mechanical stresses during regular daily activities. This fact prompts us to question the dogma of PNS mechanical vulnerability. As a matter of fact, impaired mechanics of PNS nerves is associated with neuropathies with the liability to mechanical stresses paralleled by significant impairment of PNS physiological functions. Our recent biomechanical integrity investigations on nerve fibers from wild-type and neuropathic mice lend strong support in favor of natural mechanical protection of the PNS and demonstrate a key role of Schwann cells (SCs) therein. Moreover, recent works point out that SCs can sense mechanical properties of their microenvironment and the evidence is growing that SCs mechanosensitivity is important for PNS development and myelination. Hence, SCs exhibit mechanical strength necessary for PNS mechanoprotection as well as mechanosensitivity necessary for PNS development and myelination. This mini review reflects on the intriguing dual ability of SCs and implications for PNS physiology and pathophysiology.
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spelling pubmed-56609642017-11-08 Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology Rosso, Gonzalo Young, Peter Shahin, Victor Front Mol Neurosci Neuroscience The presence of bones around the central nervous system (CNS) provides it with highly effective physiologically crucial mechanical protection. The peripheral nervous system (PNS), in contrast, lacks this barrier. Consequently, the long held belief is that the PNS is mechanically vulnerable. On the other hand, the PNS is exposed to a variety of physiological mechanical stresses during regular daily activities. This fact prompts us to question the dogma of PNS mechanical vulnerability. As a matter of fact, impaired mechanics of PNS nerves is associated with neuropathies with the liability to mechanical stresses paralleled by significant impairment of PNS physiological functions. Our recent biomechanical integrity investigations on nerve fibers from wild-type and neuropathic mice lend strong support in favor of natural mechanical protection of the PNS and demonstrate a key role of Schwann cells (SCs) therein. Moreover, recent works point out that SCs can sense mechanical properties of their microenvironment and the evidence is growing that SCs mechanosensitivity is important for PNS development and myelination. Hence, SCs exhibit mechanical strength necessary for PNS mechanoprotection as well as mechanosensitivity necessary for PNS development and myelination. This mini review reflects on the intriguing dual ability of SCs and implications for PNS physiology and pathophysiology. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-10-25 /pmc/articles/PMC5660964/ /pubmed/29118694 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2017.00345 Text en Copyright © 2017 Rosso, Young and Shahin. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Neuroscience
Rosso, Gonzalo
Young, Peter
Shahin, Victor
Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology
title Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology
title_full Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology
title_fullStr Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology
title_full_unstemmed Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology
title_short Implications of Schwann Cells Biomechanics and Mechanosensitivity for Peripheral Nervous System Physiology and Pathophysiology
title_sort implications of schwann cells biomechanics and mechanosensitivity for peripheral nervous system physiology and pathophysiology
topic Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5660964/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29118694
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnmol.2017.00345
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