Extensive oligodendrocyte remyelination following injection of cultured central nervous system cells into demyelinating lesions in adult central nervous system

Abstract

Following the injection of central nervous system (CNS) cell cultures, prepared from 1-day-old rats and maintained in vitro for 7 days, into irradiated, demyelinating lesions in the spinal cord of adult isologous animals, extensive remyelination of axons by oligodendrocytes was observed. In addition, astrocytes, within the transplanted cell suspension, established normal relationships with oligodendrocytes, axons and other tissue elements, which led to the establishment of large CNS territories throughout the lesions. Outside these CNS domains, Schwann cells, which are present in the transplanted cell suspension, myelinated groups of axons. These observations indicate that the irradiated, ethidium bromide lesion provides an in vivo environment, devoid of the influences of host glia, in which to examine the interactions of transplanted glial cells with demyelinating axons.