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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Apr 10.
Published in final edited form as: Glia. 2020 Feb 17;68(7):1513–1530. doi: 10.1002/glia.23799

Figure 12. EM-1, nociceptin, and their receptors MOR and NOR, may play a crucial function controlling the proper timing of brain myelination and its coordination with axonal outgrowth.

Figure 12.

The endogenous MOR ligand EM-1 stimulates the expression of myelin proteins and morphological maturation of developing oligodendrocytes. This effect appears to be restricted to the female cells and is counteracted by nociceptin and its receptor NOR. Nociceptin may play a crucial dual function stimulating neuronal maturation while at the same time preventing premature myelination, a situation that could interfere with early axonal elongation and neuronal connectivity.