Making Schwann Cells From Skin Precursors

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Making Schwann Cells From Skin Precursors

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=45177

The hunt goes on for more accessible sources of neural stem cells. In

this week's Journal, McKenzie et al. go to the skin as a source of

neural crest precursors. When the authors treated rodent and human

skin-derived precursors (SKPs) with forskolin and neuregulin-1a, some

of the cells differentiated into Schwann cells. The authors then

cocultured rodent SKP-derived Schwann cells, genetically labeled with

yellow fluorescent protein (YFP), with dorsal root ganglion neurons

from shiverer mice that lack myelin basic protein. After 3 weeks in

vitro, most of the tagged Schwann cells were associated with axons,

many took on a myelinating phenotype, and some proliferated,

apparently in response to axon-derived cues. YFP-labeled, SKP-derived

Schwann cells, transplanted into the sciatic nerve or brain of

shiverer mice, also successfully myelinated axons. Significantly,

naive human SKPs transplanted into injured peripheral nerve or

neonatal mouse brain to neonatal shiverer mouse brains differentiated

in vivo and formed compact myelin.

Ian A. McKenzie, Jeff Biernaskie, G. Toma, Rajiv Midha, and

Freda D.

from The Journal of Neuroscience