Figure 6. Increasing dietary lipid intake can partially compensate defects in radial myelin growth caused by lack of endogenous fatty acid synthesis in oligodendrocytes.
(a) Scheme of the experimental design. (b) Exemplary EM micrographs of the ventral funiculus of the lumbar spinal cord from mutant (cMU) and control (CT) mice that were fed a standard (STD) or a high-fat (HFD) diet. Scale bars: 5 µm. (c) Linear correlation of g-ratio versus axon diameter. At least 84 myelinated axons analyzed per mouse, in random fields selected in the same anatomical area, from n = 3 mice for each, CT and cMU, STD and HFD. (d) Overall hypomyelination in cMU compared to CT fed STD at P40, and partial recovery of radial myelination in cMU fed with HFD, as shown by g-ratio analysis. Data points represent n = 3 mice for each, CT and cMU, STD and HFD (one-way Anova; Treatment: p<0.0001, F3,8 = 113.2; with Sidak’s multiple comparisons test; cMU STD vs. CT STD: p<0.0001, t = 15.96; cMU HFD vs. CT HFD: p=0.0002, t = 8.597; CT HFD vs CT STD: p=0.7703, t = 1.339; MU HFD vs. MU STD: p=0.0019, t = 6.025), ***p<0.001, **p<0.01. Bars represent mean ±SEM. STD = standard diet, HFD = high fat diet, CT = control, cMU = conditional mutant.