The role of oligodendrocytes in disorders linked to dementia

Dementia is an age-related disease occurring in older people associated with symptoms like cognitive disorders, behavioral disturbance, and memory loss. The common types of dementia include Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, Lewy bodies’ disease, and frontotemporal dementia. With the growing body of medicine, there is still an unclear question about dementia pathology due to the multifactorial nature of dementia. One aspect is the damage to the brain white matter, which has attracted attention. Oligodendrocytes (OLs), the essential myelinating cells of the axons in the central nervous system, are one of the pivotal cells in the white matter. According to the literature, either oxidative stress or deposition of unfolded proteins cause OLs damage in dementia. On the other hand, dementia is ameliorated by proliferation and differentiation of the oligodendrocytes precursors (OLP) or preventing these cells from death. Therefore, showing the OLs' structure and function during various types of dementia can open a new window for researchers to conduct further investigations.
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