In vitro use of Schwann cells to elucidate neurotoxic injury

Abstract

Schwann cells are responsible for the maintenance of the peripheral myelin sheath and neurotoxic insult directed against these cells can result in demyelination with a concomitant loss of neural function. We have utilized several in vitro techniques to investigate the effects of neurotoxins on the complex interactions between SC and axons. SC may be isolated from fresh neonatal sciatic nerves and used to examine the effect of neurotoxins on the axonal membrane induction of SC proliferation and specific myelin protein mRNA expression. We have recently devised a method to obtain SC from frozen sciatic nerves. This method allows pooling of neonatal nerves to generate enough cells for subsequent study. We have also transfected primary Schwann cells with a plasmid containing the large T antigen to obtain a SC line suitable for neurotoxicology studies. The functional status of cultured SC may also be studied via expression of SC specific antigens such as glial fibrillary acidic protein, CNPase, S100, laminin, P0 and myelin basic protein. We also propose culturing SC with dorsal root ganglion neurons to investigate the effect of neurotoxins on all stages of SC maturation, from proliferation to the in vitro synthesis of a compact myelin sheath. These strategies will allow us to investigate the cellular mechanisms of neurotoxicity in the PNS.