An in vitro assay to examine oligodendrocyte precursor cell migration on astrocytes

Oligodendrocyte migration is required for the myelination of axons during development and also following demyelinating lesions of the central nervous system. Oligodendrocytes arise from oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) which are present within the brain and spinal cord. To reach the demyelinating lesions, OPCs have to migrate through a dense meshwork of inhibitory astrocytes. Therefore, interactions between these two cell types are of great importance in myelination. To facilitate the study of mechanisms underlying these interactions, in vitro co-culture assays of oligodendrocyte-astrocytes have been developed. In this chapter we describe the methodology for a co-culture system known as the inverted coverslip migration assay, which has been used to study the effect of astrocytes on oligodendrocyte migratory behaviour.