Montgomery C T, Tenaglia E A, Robson J A
Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY Health Science Center, Syracuse, New York 13210, USA.
Exp Neurol. 1996 Feb;137(2):277-90. doi: 10.1006/exnr.1996.0026.
Cultured Schwann cells were implanted into the thoracic spinal cords o f adult rats inside thin tubes made of polycarbonate film coated with poly-L-lysine. Additional control tubes were implanted which did not contain cultured Schwann cells. Some of the control tubes were coated with poly-L-lysine and others were not. One week to 2 months later the animals were perfused with fixatives and the tubes were prepared for light or electron microscopy. Immunocytochemical studies of the Schwann cell tubes reveal that they contain axons. Most of these axons are grouped in fascicles that run longitudinally through the tubes. The distribution of these axons matches precisely the distribution of basal lamina within the tubes as displayed by immunolabeling with an antibody to laminin. Surprisingly, the same patterns of labeling are seen in the control tubes, although they contain fewer axons. Control tubes lacking poly-L-lysine contain the fewest. Electron microscopy verifies that the tubes, including control tubes, contain Schwann cells and axons of different diameters. Furthermore, the Schwann cells ensheathe and myelinate the axons. These results strengthen the hypothesis that Schwann cells can support axonal growth in the spinal cords of adult animals. They also demonstrate that these Schwann cells can be implanted or they can be derived from the host animal. This finding raises the possibility that therapies could be devised for bridging spinal cord lesions that are based on maximizing migration of endogenous host cells into the sites of lesions.
将培养的雪旺细胞植入成年大鼠胸段脊髓内，这些雪旺细胞置于由涂有聚-L-赖氨酸的聚碳酸酯薄膜制成的细管中。另外植入不含培养雪旺细胞的对照管。部分对照管涂有聚-L-赖氨酸，其他对照管未涂。1周后至2个月后，对动物进行固定剂灌注，并将细管制成用于光镜或电镜观察的标本。对含雪旺细胞的细管进行免疫细胞化学研究发现，其中含有轴突。这些轴突大多成束排列，纵向穿过细管。这些轴突的分布与用层粘连蛋白抗体免疫标记显示的细管内基膜的分布精确匹配。令人惊讶的是，在对照管中也观察到相同的标记模式，尽管其轴突较少。不含聚-L-赖氨酸的对照管中轴突最少。电镜证实，这些细管，包括对照管，含有雪旺细胞和不同直径的轴突。此外，雪旺细胞包裹轴突并形成髓鞘。这些结果强化了雪旺细胞能够支持成年动物脊髓轴突生长的假说。它们还表明，这些雪旺细胞可以植入，也可以来源于宿主动物。这一发现增加了一种可能性，即可以设计出基于最大限度地促进内源性宿主细胞迁移到损伤部位的疗法来桥接脊髓损伤。
