Figure 7.

GNB4/G_β4 Overexpression Enhances Human Myelination by Transplanted hOPCs

GNB4 or mCherry overexpressing hOPCs were transplanted into the corpus callosum of 2- to 3-day shiverer/rag2 mice and euthanized at 8 weeks to assess engraftment and myelination.

(A and B) Immunostaining for human nuclear antigen (hNA) and MBP to assess engraftment and oligodendrocyte differentiation (corpus callosum outlined by dotted lines).

(C) Quantification of MBP area as a proportion of corpus callosum (mean ± SEM, n = 3–6 mice).

(D and E) Confocal microscopy of MBP⁺ ensheathed axons.

(F) Density of myelinated axons was quantified within engrafted regions (mean ± SEM, n = 3–4).

(G–L) Cell fate was assessed by immunofluorescence for CC1⁺hNA⁺ human oligodendrocytes (G), hGFAP⁺hNA⁺ human astrocytes (H), and Ki-67⁺hNA⁺ dividing human cells (I). Arrows indicate double-positive human cells in each panel. The proportion is quantified in (J) to (L). GNB4 did not significantly effect oligodendrocyte maturation (J) or proliferation (L) among transplanted cells, but increased the proportion of differentiated astrocytes (K), compared with mCherry controls.

^∗p < 0.05, n = 3–6 mice per group, unpaired t test. Scale bars, 100 μm (A; applies also to B), 10 μm (E; applies also to D), and 25 μm (G; applies also to H and I).