Type 1 astrocytes fail to inhibit Schwann cell remyelination of CNS axons in the absence of cells of the O-2A lineage.

The extent to which Schwann cells are able to remyelinate demyelinated CNS axons is influenced by the presence of astrocytes. In order to study further the nature of astrocyte control of Schwann cell remyelination in the CNS, cultures containing type 1 astrocytes and a small proportion of Schwann cells, but depleted of O-2A lineage cells by exposure to cytosine arabinoside and complement-mediated immunocytolysis, were transplanted into glial-free lesions in adult rat spinal cord in which the host response to demyelinated axons was suppressed by X-irradiation. Following transplantation of these O-2A lineage-depleted cultures into X-irradiated, demyelinating lesions, there was extensive remyelination of demyelinated axons by Schwann cells, a result which contrasted with those obtained from earlier experiments in which O-2A lineage cells were present within the transplant, and/or recruited from host tissue. This experiment shows that the presence of O-2A lineage cells is required in order for transplanted type 1 astrocytes to organise in a manner which inhibits extensive Schwann cell remyelination of CNS axons.