UDPgalactose:ceramide galactosyltransferase in cultured oligodendrocytes: an enzymological and immunological study

The developmental expression of UDPgalactose:ceramide galactosyltransferase (CGalT), an enzyme marker of one myelinogenic activity in nervous tissue, was studied in cultured oligodendrocytes. The activity of CGalT in cultures followed a characteristic pattern of developmental changes. In the primary cultures these changes could be represented by a biphasic curve with a maximum of enzymatic activity at about the 25th day in culture. After purifying the oligodendrocytes from the primary cultures and replating them in culture dishes, similar developmental changes of CGalT were observed. In the subcultures prepared from 20-day-old primary cultures the activity of CGalT per oligodendrocyte increased from 1.3 x 10(-6) nmol/hr on day 4 to 3.7 x -6 nmol/hr on day 21. Immunocytochemical studies with the antiserum against rat brain CGalT showed the presence of CGalT+ oligodendrocytes after 7 days in the primary culture (earliest time studied), later on the number of CGalT+ oligodendrocytes increased until 28 days (latest time examined). In the subcultures of purified oligodendrocytes the bulk of oligodendrocytes was stained by the anti-CGalT antibodies after 15 days. These results suggest that the initial expression of CGalT in oligodendroglial cultures involves an increase of the number of CGalT+ oligodendrocytes and of the amount of enzyme protein per cell.