Biomimetic microfibers for myelin-enhancer screening and neural regeneration

However, its regulatory mechanisms remain unclear, partly due to the lack of effective evaluation systems of oligodendrocyte wrapping. Here, we developed a novel culture platform with aligned microfibers that mimic axonal structure and chemistry to quantify oligodendrocyte wrapping.

Compound screening with this system identified that dimemorfan, a sigma-1 receptor agonist, enhances oligodendrocyte wrapping and transcriptomic profiles detected by RNA-seq. In addition, dimemorfan promoted wrapping in human iPSC-derived oligodendrocytes. Our findings provide a new platform for drug discovery for brain regeneration and advance the understanding of remyelination mechanisms.