A surface antigenic marker for rat Schwann cells.

Abstract

THE use of cell-surface antigenic markers to identify and separate distinct subpopulations of lymphocytes has revolutionised immunology in recent years. It seems likely that a similar approach will be fruitful in other areas of biology. For example, recent advances in maintaining and studying cells of the nervous system in vitro have created a pressing need for cell-type-specific markers. These would allow unequivocal identification and possible purification of the many different types of neural cells so that their interactions can be studied in culture. Here we describe a cell-surface antigen, defined by an antiserum raised in mice against a rat neural tumour cell line1 which is present on Schwann cells in dissociated cell culture of neonatal rat sciatic nerve, but not on fibroblasts in the same culture. Another cell-surface antigen, Thy-1.1 (formerly called ΘAKR)2 is expressed by the fibroblasts3 and not the Schwann cells, making it possible to mark both cell types simultaneously in these cultures by using antibodies conjugated to two different fluorochromes.