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Variable galactocerebroside expression by human Schwann cells in dissociated and peripheral nerve explant cultures
Author(s) -
Turnbull Victor J.,
Petratos Steven,
Papadopoulos Roula,
Gonzales Michael F.,
Ayers Margaret
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.1156
Subject(s) - galactocerebroside , schwann cell , explant culture , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , cell culture , in vitro , neuroglia , neuroscience , myelin , oligodendrocyte , central nervous system , biochemistry , genetics
It has been well established that rat Schwann cells down regulate their cell‐surface expression of galactocerebroside (GalC) in vitro under normal cell culture conditions. To determine whether human Schwann cells exhibit a similar down‐regulation of GalC in vitro we examined GalC expression in dissociated human Schwann cell cultures derived from normal adult peripheral nerve. Twenty‐four hours post‐dissociation up to 63% of human Schwann cells were found to express detectable levels of GalC on their surface whereas less than 8% of the Schwann cells expressed detectable levels of GalC at 14 days post‐dissociation. In contrast, after nearly 3 months of peripheral nerve explant culture, greater than 30% of human Schwann cells still retained their GalC expression. A similar pattern was also observed when analyzing Schwann cell purity with dissociated cultures exhibiting a rapid decrease in Schwann cell purity under normal culturing conditions although Schwann cell purity was found to be largely unaffected during the period of peripheral nerve explant culture. In summary, we found there was less variation in both GalC expression and Schwann cell purity with time in peripheral nerve explant cultures than dissociated cultures. J. Neurosci. Res. 65:318–321, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.