Adhesion of axolemmal fragments to Schwann cells: a signal- and target-specific process closely linked to axolemmal induction of Schwann cell mitosis.

Radioiodinated rat CNS axolemmal fragments adhered to cultured rat Schwann cells by a time-, temperature-, and concentration-dependent process independent of extracellular ionized calcium. Adhesion showed target and signal specificity; axolemmal fragments adhered to endoneurial or dermal fibroblasts to a much lesser extent than to Schwann cells, and plasma membrane fragments from skeletal muscle, erythrocytes, or PNS myelin adhered to Schwann cells to a lesser extent than did axolemmal fragments. Brief trypsinization removed 94 to 97% of bound radioactivity from Schwann cells previously incubated with 125I-axolemmal fragments for up to 24 hr, indicating that adhesion was largely a surface phenomenon rather than the result of rapid internalization of axolemmal fragments by the Schwann cells. When adhesion was compared to the axolemmal mitogenic response of Schwann cells, the concentration of axolemmal fragments yielding half-maximal adhesion was the same as the concentration producing half-maximal stimulation of Schwann cell mitosis. Trypsin digestion, homogenization, or heating of axolemmal fragments before application to cultured Schwann cells diminished adhesion and axolemmal fragment-induced stimulation of Schwann cell mitosis in a parallel fashion. Whereas adhesion of axolemmal fragments to the surfaces of the cultured Schwann cells reached completion within 4 hr in this assay system, induction of Schwann cell mitosis by the fragments required contact with Schwann cells for a minimum of 6 to 8 hr and reached a maximum when the axolemmal fragments had adhered to the Schwann cells for 24 hr or more.