Oligodendrocyte ablation as a tool to study demyelinating diseases

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune mediated neurodegenerative disease characterized by demyelin-ation and oligodendrocyte (OL) loss in the central nervous system and accompanied by local inlfammation and inifltration of peripheral immune cells. Although many risk factors and symptoms have been iden-tified in MS, the pathology is complicated and the cause remains unknown. It is also unclear whether OL apoptosis precedes the inlfammation or whether the local inlfammation is the cause of OL death and demyelination. This review brielfy discusses several models that have been developed to speciifcally ablate oligodendrocytes in an effort to separate the effects of demyelination from inlfammation.