Effects of fibroblasts derived from the olfactory bulb and nasal olfactory mucosa on proliferation of olfactory ensheathing cells harvested from the olfactory bulb.

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) have been reported to promote axonal regeneration when transplanted to rodent spinal cord injury models. OECs are available from the olfactory bulb (OB) and olfactory mucosa (OM). Although harvesting OECs from the OM is less traumatic, OECs originating from the OM are less proliferative than those from the OB (OB-OECs). One possible reason for this difference is coexisting fibroblasts. Here, we examined the effect of coculturing either fibroblasts from the OB (OB-Fibs) or fibroblasts from the OM (OM-Fibs) on the proliferation of OB-OECs. Proliferation of OB-OECs was significantly higher in 5:5 coculture with OB-Fibs and in 7:3 and 5:5 cocultures with OM-Fibs than without fibroblasts. These results indicated that coculture with both OB-Fibs and OM-Fibs promoted the proliferation of OB-OECs.