The isolation and long-term culture of oligodendrocytes from newborn mouse brain.

Using differential adhesion we successfully isolated relatively pure populations of mouse oligodendrocytes which can be maintained in vitro for more than two months. The highest percentage of galactocerebroside (GalC)-positive oligodendrocytes was 95% at 3 days after isolation. Thereafter, proliferation of astrocytes and fibroblasts occurred more quickly than did oligodendrocyte precursor division. GalC-positive oligodendrocytes rarely incorporate [3H]thymidine so that the use of a mitotic inhibitor (5 X 10(-6)M AraC) reduced the number of non-oligodendrocytes so as to maintain the purity of oligodendrocytes at more than 75% for 14 days in culture. This system will be of use for immunological and virological studies which require viable cultured mouse oligodendrocytes.