Remyelination of demyelinated rat axons by transplanted mouse oligodendrocytes

The injection of the gliotoxic agent ethidium bromide (EB) into spinal white matter produces a CNS lesion in which it is possible to investigate the ability of transplanted glial cells to reconstruct a glial environment around demyelinated axons. This study demonstrates that transplanted mouse glial cells can repopulate EB lesions in rats provided tissue rejection is controlled. In X-irradiated EB lesions in cyclosporin-A-treated rats, mouse oligodendrocytes remyelinated rat axons and, together with mouse astrocytes, re-established a CNS environment. When transplanted into nonirradiated EB lesions in nude rats, mouse glial cells modulated the normal host repair by Schwann cells to remyelination by oligodendrocytes. In both X-irradiated and non-irradiated EB lesions, transplanted mouse glial cells behaved similarly to isogenic rat glial cell transplants (Blakemore and Crang Dev Neurosci, 1988;10:1-10; J Neurocytol, 1989;18:519-528). These findings indicate that the cell-cell interactions involved in reconstruction of a glial environment are common to both mouse and rat.