Thompson Deanna M, Buettner Helen M
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2006 Jan;34(1):161-8. doi: 10.1007/s10439-005-9013-4. Epub 2006 Feb 2.
Schwann cells enhance axonal regeneration following nerve injury in vivo and provide a favorable substrate for neurite outgrowth in vitro. However, much remains unknown about the nature of interactions that occur between Schwann cells and growing neurites. In this paper, we describe direct evidence of the ability of Schwann cell alignment alone to direct neurite outgrowth. Previously, we reported that laminin micro-patterns can be used to align Schwann cells and thus create oriented Schwann cell monolayers. In the current study, dissociated rat spinal neurons were seeded onto oriented Schwann cell monolayers, whose alignment provided the only directional cue for growing neurites, and neurite alignment with the underlying Schwann cells was analyzed. The orientation of neurite outgrowth mimicked that of the Schwann cells. Associations observed between neurites and Schwann cells suggest that Schwann cells may guide neurite outgrowth through both topographical and molecular mechanisms. This work demonstrates that Schwann cell alignment can direct neurite outgrowth in the absence of other directional cues, and provides a new method for examining neuronal-Schwann cell interactions in vitro.
施万细胞在体内可促进神经损伤后的轴突再生，并在体外为神经突生长提供有利的底物。然而，关于施万细胞与生长中的神经突之间相互作用的本质，仍有许多未知之处。在本文中，我们描述了施万细胞单独排列引导神经突生长能力的直接证据。此前，我们报道过层粘连蛋白微图案可用于使施万细胞排列，从而形成定向的施万细胞单层。在当前研究中，将解离的大鼠脊髓神经元接种到定向的施万细胞单层上，其排列为生长中的神经突提供了唯一的方向线索，并分析了神经突与下层施万细胞的排列情况。神经突生长的方向与施万细胞的方向相似。在神经突与施万细胞之间观察到的关联表明，施万细胞可能通过地形学和分子机制引导神经突生长。这项工作表明，在没有其他方向线索的情况下，施万细胞排列可以引导神经突生长，并为体外研究神经元 - 施万细胞相互作用提供了一种新方法。
