Mitochondrial Quality Control in Oligodendrocyte Life and Death
We are pleased to announce that Professor Robert A. Hill from Dartmouth College, USA will join Targeting Mitochondria 2026 as a speaker and give a presentation entitled "Mitochondrial quality control in oligodendrocyte life and death".
Summary:
The brain's myelin is made by oligodendrocytes. These cells are lost in diseases like multiple sclerosis and during aging. Our work has revealed that mitochondria play a central role throughout the lifespan of this cell lineage. During myelin formation, mitochondrial networks expand and migrate into the cell's outer branches to power myelin sheath construction, then abruptly withdraw as myelin matures. In aging, oligodendrocyte precursor cell mitochondria become smaller and less motile, potentially explaining impaired myelin repair. When oligodendrocytes are damaged, they lose their mitochondria within days, but their death takes months. Genetically disrupting mitochondrial quality control in mature oligodendrocytes reproduces this rapid mitochondrial loss, slow cell death, and causes progressive myelin loss. Together, our work shows that mitochondrial features vary across the lineage and mitochondrial dysfunction is an early, silent indicator of oligodendrocyte pathology.
