New Myelination and Remyelination Molecular Insights
Siying Cui, Tong Chen, Dazhuan Xin, Fangbing Chen, Xiaowen Zhong et al.
(see article e0141242024)
Axon myelination is important for fast and efficient neuronal communication. The timing of myelination is linked to proper development of cognitive and motor skills. Oligodendrocytes are a type of neuroglia that aid in axon myelination and remyelination following injury. They are regulated by many factors, including transcriptional regulators like zinc-finger protein ZFP488. In this issue, Cui et al. explored, for the first time, what happens when ZFP488 signaling is impeded by developing a ZFP488 knock-out line of mice. In their study, they found that ZFP488 is enriched in differentiated oligodendrocytes and that ZFP488 loss disrupted myelination in the central nervous system and impaired remyelination following injury. They also uncovered why this may be the case: ZFP488 regulates maturation programs to promote myelination. This investigation moves the needle forward in our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the precise timing of oligodendrocyte myelination and remyelination in the central nervous system.
Nearly no colocalization of ZFP488-GFP (green) with astrocyte marker GFAP (left), microglia marker Iba1 (middle), or neural marker NeuN (right), all in red, was observed. These data supported the discovery that ZFP488 is enriched in oligodendrocytes. See Cui et al. for more information.
How Our Brains Implicitly and Explicitly Stereotype Others
John Chwe, Henna Vartiainen, and Jon Freeman
(see article e0542242024)
Even from just a brief glimpse of a face, we use what are largely inaccurate judgements to navigate social settings. But biases based on physical appearance can be harmful. They can lead to people being unjustly excluded from hiring pools or wrongfully incarcerated. Herein, Chwe et al. explored how our brains shape our perceptions of others. While study participants observed faces, the authors imaged their brains. Afterward, participants gauged how trustworthy or dominant the faces were. The scientists discovered the medial temporal gyrus essentially formed a two-dimensional plot of internal traits, with trustworthiness and dominance as the axes, and arranged people's faces on it. This occurred implicitly, even in participants who indicated that they did not believe impressions based on appearances were accurate. Other regions of the brain involved in social reasoning and consciously making judgements about others’ appearances also contributed to how brains tracked internal traits from faces, but only in those who did endorse facial stereotyping. These findings are a breakthrough in our understanding of how our brains both implicitly and explicitly judge others. They point to potential mechanisms that may give rise to social biases based on faces and emphasize the need for rethinking how settings in which our judgements bear real consequences on the lives of others are navigated.
Footnotes
This Week in The Journal was written by Paige McKeon
