Advances in Oligoprotection

Abstract

Oligodendrocytes, the myelinating glial cells of the nervous system, in various disease states display great vulnerability to excitotoxic damage, oxidative stress, and inflammatory cytokines. Besides demyelinating diseases where oligoden- drocyte injury is primarily implicated, damage to them also occurs secondarily in various neuropathies. Oligoprotec- tion should, therefore, be looked into something not just as a means for protecting oligodendrocytes alone but also as a common target of protecting neurons and the neurogliovascular unit as a whole. In this review, we provide a descrip- tion on oligodendrocytes, the reasons for their vulnerability, the evolving new concepts of protecting neurovascular unit and recently neurogliovascular unit; the various diseases where oligodendrocyte injury is implicated with a brief idea on different injury mechanisms of oligodendrocytes. Finally, we present the summary of the drugs that have shown promising results in protecting oligodendrocytes or in protecting white matter as a whole in different in vivo and in vitro models.