A chemically defined medium for the culture of mature oligodendrocytes

A new chemically defined medium consisting of equal parts of Dulbecco modified Eagle's and Ham's F-12 media supplemented with insulin, sodium selenite, putrescine, and D+ galactose, which allows the long-term survival of mature oligodendrocyte pure cultures, is described. Immunohistochemical staining has shown that over 90% of the cells become positive for myelin proteins shortly following subculture. Contaminating astrocytes (2%) do not survive in this medium. Biochemical data have indicated that these purified oligodendrocytes express 2'3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphohydrolase and UDP-galactose ceramide galactosyltransferase activities. Electron microscopical examination revealed that the oligodendrocytes were mostly of medium-dark type and appeared to be identical to cells cultured in serum-containing medium. The ability to maintain pure oligodendrocyte cultures in such a defined medium will allow investigations concerning exogenous and endogenous factors involved in oligodendrocyte metabolism.