S-100 protein and laminin: immunocytochemical markers for human Schwann cells in vitro.

Human fetal and adult Schwann cells, which had been maintained in culture for 5 weeks according to an explant-reexplantation technique, were labeled by immunoperoxidase using antibodies directed against S-100 protein and laminin in order to find specific antigenic markers. Immunocytochemical analysis of the distribution of both proteins showed that they were expressed in long-term cultures. The localization of S-100 protein and laminin in long-term cultures indicated that the expression of these proteins by human Schwann cells was not axon-dependent and also occurred in absence of myelin synthesis.