Expression of antigenic markers during the development of oligodendrocytes in mouse brain cell cultures.

The expression of myelin basic protein (MBP) and galactocerebroside (GC), two antigenic markers for oligodendrocytes, was checked on 7-, 14-, 21- and 28-day-old dissociated mouse brain cell cultures (BCC) by using the indirect immunofluorescence method with double staining. The number of GC positive cells increased between the 7th and the 14th day of culture before a steady state was reached. In contrast to this, the MBP-positive cells appeared only on the 14th day of culture, and their number increased with the age of the culture. In double staining, the serum produced against isolated oligodendrocytes shows the same picture as the anti-GC serum, while only a part of GC-positive cells showed also the presence of MBP. Our data suggest that the GC appears very early on the membrane of the oligodendrocytes during development while cells exhibiting both GC and MBP probably represent a more differentiated oligodendrocyte population.