RECONSTRUCTION OF THE GLIA LIMITANS BY SUBARACHNOID TRANSPLANTATION OF ASTROCYTE-ENRICHED CULTURES

Lesions in CNS white matter involving loss of glial cells with concurr ent destruction of the glia limitans lead to widespread remyelination of CNS axons by Schwann cells. Previous studies have demonstrated that this situation can be changed by transplanting cultured CNS glial cel ls into lesions early on in the repair process. In this study we have transplanted cultured astrocytes into the sub-arachnoid space above su ch a lesion in order to (1) influence the normal repair process by tra nsplant-assisted reconstruction of the glia limitans, and (2) explore the potential of a minimally invasive route for introducing cells to w hite matter lesions. In some cases, it proved possible to influence no rmal repair by transplanting cells via the sub-arachnoid route, althou gh the results were inconsistent. However, the experiment permitted ob servations to be made on the migration of transplanted astrocytes acro ss the surface of and within the spinal cord. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc .