The paper published in the international journal "Journal of Cell Biology" on July 13, 2009 studied the effect of GABA induced calcium signal increase on the migration of NG2 glial cells by activating sodium channels and sodium-calcium exchange pathways in NG2 glial cells. The same period of magazine gave a key introduction to the paper with a short article entitled " Brain-repairing cells follow trail of GABA " in the column of“news in this issue". The study used a variety of methods to find that the response of NG2 glial cells to the neurotransmitter GABA is the same as the response of immature neurons. They both produced excitatory depolarization responses and increased intracellular calcium. Different from the response of immature neurons, the increase of calcium in NG2 cells caused by GABA is not through the activation of calcium channels, but by the activation of the slowly inactivating components of sodium channels, thereby increasing intracellular sodium, and then increasing intracellular calcium through the sodium-calcium exchanger. This novel calcium-increasing pathway plays a key role in the migration of NG2 glial cells in the brain caused by GABA. These findings not only reveal the novel calcium signaling mechanism of NG2 glial cells, but also have important significance for understanding the migration mechanism of NG2 cells in the brain during early development and the mechanism of NG2 cells migrating to the injured area after brain injury and participating in myelin repair.
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