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Primary Cell Cultures for the Study of Myelination

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Protocols for Neural Cell Culture

Part of the book series: Springer Protocols Handbooks ((SPH))

Abstract

Tissue culture allows the separate establishment of neurons and glia under a variety of conditions of substrate and media. By subsequent recombination of relatively pure cell populations, a number of questions of neuronal development and neuronal-glia interactions, specifically myelination, may be studied. In vivo, axons of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons course through both the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nerve trunks, and induce myelination by both central (oligodendrocytes) and peripheral (Schwann cells) neuroglia. For this reason, and because dissociated DRG neurons are long-lived in vitro when nerve growth factor (NGF) is included in the medium, co-cultures of purified DRG neurons and purified myelinating cells (i.e., Schwann cells or oligodendrocytes) are ideal for the study of myelination. In culture, either peripheral nervous system (PNS) or CNS glial cells are added to the networks of nonneuronal cell-free disaggregated DRG neurons. When these co-cultures are provided with suitable medium, the glia expand in number; given another media, myelination occurs in several weeks.

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Further Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM

    Mary I. Johnson

  2. Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, Miami, FL

    Richard P. Bunge & Patrick M. Wood

Authors
  1. Mary I. Johnson
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  2. Richard P. Bunge
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  3. Patrick M. Wood
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Sergey Fedoroff  & Arleen Richardson  & 

Additional information

Dedication

This chapter is dedicated to Richard P. Bunge (1932–1997), whose contributions were innumerable to the study of the cell of Schwann and both peripheral and central myelination.

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© 2001 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Johnson, M.I., Bunge, R.P., Wood, P.M. (2001). Primary Cell Cultures for the Study of Myelination. In: Fedoroff, S., Richardson, A. (eds) Protocols for Neural Cell Culture. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-207-4:95

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-207-4:95

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-902-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-207-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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