Transplanted cultured type-1 astrocytes can be used to reconstitute the glia limitans of the CNS: the structure which prevents Schwann cells from myelinating CNS axons

Abstract

Transplantation of different glial cells into areas of demyelination made in the adult rat spinal cord allows insights into the cell-cell interaction necessary to reconstruct a glial environment around demyelinated axons. Such studies have shown that type-1 astrocytes are central to the exclusion of Schwann cells from areas of glia-free demyelination. However, for these cells to be established in a manner which prevents Schwann cell remyelination of CNS axons, cells of the O-2A lineage are also required. If cultures of isogeneic rat type-1 astrocytes and mouse O-2A cells are transplanted into lesions made in non-immunosuppressed animals. Schwann cell remyelination is limited and extensive oligodendrocyte remyelination is achieved. This paradigm creates a model of immune mediated demyelination in which the immune response is not primarily directed at oligodendrocyte specific epitopes.