Stimulation of oligodendrocytes by extracts from astrocyte-enriched cultures.

A soluble, heat-labile, trypsin-sensitive factor present in extracts of astrocyte-enriched cultures enhances the expression of myelination-associated events in rat brain cultures enriched in oligodendrocytes. Both the number of oligodendrocytes detected by immunofluorescence microscopy and the levels of biochemical activities associated with oligodendrocyte differentiation increased in the cultures in response to the extract in a time- and concentration-dependent fashion. The possible significance of these studies for normal oligodendrocytes function, and thus myelination, is discussed.