Neuron-astroglial interactions in vitro and their implications for repair of CNS injury

To study neuron-glial interactions, our laboratory has developed an in vitro model system that, when used with cell type-specific antisera, allows visualization of contacts between cerebellar granule neurons and astroglia. When cells were dissociated from early postnatal mouse cerebellum and plated in microcultures, the neurons aligned along glial filament protein (GFP)-containing astroglial processes. The behavior of the neurons depended on the shape of the particular astroglial cell that they contacted. Neuronal migration commonly occurred along highly elongated astroglial processes of Bergmann-like glia but was inhibited when neurons nestled among the arms of stellate astroglia. To analyze the influence of neurons on the astroglial shapes associated with neuronal migration, cerebellar granule neurons and astroglia were purified and recombined. In the absence of neurons, cerebellar astroglia assumed a flattened shape and proliferated rapidly. In the absence of astroglia, neurite outgrowth was severely impaired. When neurons were recombined with purified astroglia, astroglial proliferation slowed markedly, the shape of the astroglia transformed into complex forms, and neuron-glial interactions were seen. In tissue sections, immature forms of glia were found in the developing cerebellar axon tracts, but no obvious relationship could be discerned between the growing axonal tips and the glia. At P7, a period when the growth of cerebellar axons slows markedly, a transient natural gliosis was seen in the putative white matter. These studies underscore the interdependence of neurons and astroglia during periods of neuron differentiation and neurite outgrowth. In addition, they raise the possibility that the disruption of normal neuronal-astroglial contacts suffered during CNS injury could lead to defects in astroglial form and surface properties that, in turn, might impair axon regrowth.