Fig. 7. Role of oligodendrocytes in information processing extends beyond conduction velocity regulation to energy support of axons and axonal excitability regulation.

a Schematic illustrating parallel processing of pure tones in a Wt animal. Sound presentation (left, teal, 15 kHz) activates fibers sensitive to 15 kHz (middle, teal) more strongly than fibers sensitive to 17 kHz (upper, blue, 17 kHz), and does not activate fiber sensitive to 4 kHz (lower, yellow, 4 kHz). b With dysmyelination, spectral processing is unaffected, but delayed responses are observed. c Oligodendrocyte metabolic defects affect neither the latency nor strength of responses to simple tones. d Temporal processing of continuous stimuli (i.e., presentation of clicks at 5 Hz) in a Wt animal. e Temporal processing is affected with dysmyelination beyond the increase in conduction velocity (delayed spikes). We observe loss of temporal resolution in both dysmyelination conditions and f with loss of oligodendrocyte metabolic stability.