Distinct inflammatory stimuli induce different patterns of myelin phagocytosis and degradation in recruited macrophages.

Injury and demyelinating diseases result in the disruption of the myelin sheath that surrounds axons in the nervous system. The removal of degenerating myelin by macrophages and microglia is central to repair mechanisms that follow. The efficiency of myelin removal depends on magnitudes and rates of myelin phagocytosis and degradation. In the present study we test whether environmental conditions within a tissue can control patterns of myelin removal. We document that macrophages that are recruited to the same tissue but by distinct inflammatory stimuli differ in their ability to phagocytose and degrade myelin. These observations may apply to the nervous system where different pathological conditions that involve distinct inflammatory stimuli may induce different functional states in microglia and macrophages. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.