Shiverer peripheral myelin contains P2.

Myelin-deficient mutant mice, such as shiverer, can provide information about the normal mechanisms involved in myelination. The shiverer mouse carries a recessive, autosomal mutation1 resulting in an extreme deficiency in central myelin, and the small amount of myelin present is poorly compacted2; the peripheral myelin, however, appears essentially normal3,4. As the amount of myelin basic protein (P1) in both central and peripheral nervous system myelin is extremely low in shiverer3,5, it is possible that P1 is essential for the normal formation and compaction of central myelin, but not of peripheral myelin. Some other protein would then be responsible for the formation of compact peripheral myelin in shiverer. Peripheral myelin contains another basic protein, designated P2, which could be a possible candidate for this role. Kirschner and Ganser, however, using SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, reported that P2, as well as P1, is absent from shiverer sciatic nerve3. This is an important observation if correct, because it not only excludes the possibility that P2 is required for compaction but also makes it less likely that the deficiency in P1 is the primary defect in shiverer. As P2 in rat and mouse has frequently been confused with another small basic protein (related to P1) in SDS-polyacrylamide gels6, it seemed worthwhile to reassess this aspect of the Kirschner and Ganser observations. Immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting have been used here to show unambiguously that P2 is present in shiverer peripheral myelin.