Neurotrophic effects of Schwann cells in culture on spinal anterior horn neurons.

OBJECTIVE

To study the neurotrophic effects of Schwann cells in culture on damaged spinal anterior horn neurons.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Dissociated from rat sciatic nerves undergoing Wallerian degeneration by trypsin-collagenase. Schwann cells were cultured for 96 hours to form a trophoblast, onto which embryonic day 14 rat spinal anterior horn neurons plated on glass coverslip and cultured for 4 hours were transferred for cocultivation without cell-cell contact between Schwann cells and spinal anterior horn neurons. The effect of survival and neurite outgrowth activity promoting factors secreted from Schwann cells on spinal anterior horn neurons were examined under phase-contrast microscope at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after cocultivation.

RESULTS

When cultured for 24 hours, almost all the spinal anterior horn neurons, that had been damaged in the course of dissociation from spinal nervous tubes, survived, and some of them grew with short neurites. 96 hours after cocultivation, about 1/3-1/2 of the neurons survived and their bodies enlarged with neurites by more than six times of their body diameters. Contrarily, none of the neurons in the control group (no Schwann cell trophoblast) survived simultaneously.

CONCLUSIONS

By the model of Schwann cell-spinal anterior horn neuron cocultivation separated by glass coverslip, it was well confirmed that Schwann cell can secrete a neuron survival promoting factor and a neurite outgrowth promoting factor, which undoubtedly play a crucial role in peripheral nerve regeneration.