Formation of central and peripheral myelin sheaths in the rat: An electron microscopic study

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Abstract
Formation of the myelin sheath in peripheral nerve of the newborn rat is compared with its formation in postnatal cerebral white matter. The unmyelinated central axon is bare and myelination begins by the spiral wrapping of an oligodendrocytic process around the axon. The paired membranes of this process fuse on their inside surfaces, lengthen, and spiral around the axon to make a loose sheath of major dense lines. Compact myelin results after fusion of the outside surfaces to form the intraperiod line. Cytoplasm is sparse in developing central myelin, usually being restricted to inner and outer tongues.Unmyelinated peripheral axons are enclosed within a mesaxon formed by the invagination and fusion of the outside surfaces of the Schwann cell plasma membranes. Loose myelin is produced by lengthening and spiralling of the mesaxon (intraperiod line) around the axon. As Schwann cell cytoplasm is extruded from between the spirals, the major dense line forms and compact myelin results. Trapped cytoplasm, a characteristic of developing peripheral myelin, is found in the internodal compact myelin sheath as the inner and outer collars and the Schmidt‐Lanterman clefts.