Co-culture study of rat neuron-glial interaction: Evidence of neuronal influence on myelination

Abstract

Organotypic cultures of newborn rat brains were exposed to the neurotoxin kainic acid or the DNA synthesis inhibitor arabinoside C. The cultures were subsequently co-cultured and the myelination-related enzymatic activities, such as 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotide phosphohydrolase and uridine diphosphate-galactoseceramide galactosyl transferase, were determined under various culture conditions. The newly formed myelin basic protein in the cultured brain tissue was determined by the radioimmunoprecipitation method. The myelination-related enzymatic activities and the synthesis and accumulation of myelin basic protein in the co-cultured brain tissue were found compatible to the control cultures which were not exposed to either drug. The cultures which had been treated with either drug, but not subsequently co-cultured, were found to have decreased enzymatic activities and myelin basic protein synthesis. The experimental data suggest that myelinogenesis requires an interaction between functional neurons and oligodendroglial cells and further supports the hypothesis that the neuron exerts a regulatory effect on the glial myelination mechanism.