CNS remyelination is a regenerative process that contrasts with the more widely recognized absence of regeneration characteristic of neuronal injury. This important process both restores saltatory conduction to demyelinated axons and enables the recovery of functions mediated by impulse conduction in those axons. Unfortunately, remyelination can be a fragile process that is prone to fail, contributing to the persistence of clinical deficits in patients with demyelinating disease. Despite being first described more than 30 years ago, it is only relatively recently that a clearer (though still incomplete) picture of the cellular and molecular mechanisms of remyelination has begun to emerge. These developments, in particular the role of the oli godendrocyte progenitor, have provided insights into why remyelination sometimes fails and will provide the basis for enhancing this process by means of therapeutic intervention. NEUROSCIENTIST 5:184-191, 1999
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