Department of Human Genetics, School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, 130 De Soto St, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA.
Department of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
BMC Res Notes. 2023 Aug 4;16(1):161. doi: 10.1186/s13104-023-06432-w.
Oligodendrocytes (OL) are the glial cell type in the CNS that are responsible for myelin formation. The ability to culture OLs in vitro has provided critical insights into the mechanisms underlying their function. However, primary OL cultures are tedious to obtain, difficult to propagate and are not easily conducive to genetic manipulation. To overcome these obstacles, researchers have generated immortalized OL like cell lines derived from various species. One such cell line is the mouse Oli-neu line which is thought to recapitulate characteristics of OLs in early stages of maturity. They have been extensively utilized in multiple studies as surrogates for OLs, especially in analyzing epigenetic modifications and regulatory pathways in the OL lineage.
In this report we present the development of optimized culture media and growth conditions that greatly facilitate the differentiation of Oli-neu cells. Oli-neu cells differentiated using these new protocols exhibit a higher expression of myelin related genes and increased branching, both of which are defining characteristics of mature OLs, when compared to previous culture protocols. We envision that these new culture conditions will greatly facilitate the use of Oli-neu cells and enhance their ability to recapitulate the salient features of primary OLs.
少突胶质细胞（OL）是中枢神经系统中的神经胶质细胞类型，负责髓鞘形成。体外培养 OL 的能力为研究其功能的机制提供了重要的见解。然而，原代 OL 培养物获取繁琐，难以增殖，且不易进行遗传操作。为了克服这些障碍，研究人员已经从各种物种中产生了永生化的 OL 样细胞系。其中一种细胞系是小鼠 Oli-neu 系，它被认为再现了 OL 早期成熟阶段的特征。它们已被广泛用于多项研究中，作为 OL 的替代物，尤其是在分析 OL 谱系中的表观遗传修饰和调节途径。
在本报告中，我们提出了优化的培养介质和生长条件的开发，这些条件极大地促进了 Oli-neu 细胞的分化。与以前的培养方案相比，使用这些新方案分化的 Oli-neu 细胞表现出更高的髓鞘相关基因表达和更多的分支，这两者都是成熟 OL 的定义特征。我们设想这些新的培养条件将极大地促进 Oli-neu 细胞的使用，并增强其再现原代 OL 主要特征的能力。
