IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO BEHAVIOR OF NDF-EXPANDED MONKEY SCHWANN-CELLS

Schwann cells, the myelin-forming cells of the peripheral nervous syst em may play a major role in the regeneration and remyelination not onl y of the peripheral but also of the central nervous system. The discov ery of the mitogenicity of human recombinant forms of neuregulins (gli al growth factors) on primate Schwann cells allows us to envisage a co nsiderable expansion of these cells in culture with a view to autologo us transplantation in the central nervous system. To assay this possib ility, we used human recombinant neu-differentiation factor beta (NDF beta) to expand monkey Schwann cells derived from perinatal and adult nerve biopsies. We report that NDF beta containing the epidermal growt h factor (EGF)-like domain (residues 177-228) is a potent mitogen for monkey Schwann cells but is more effective on perinatal than adult Sch wann cells. Moreover, continuous treatment with NDF beta, does not see m to prevent Schwann cells differentiation into myelin-forming cells a fter their transplantation into the demyelinated mouse spinal cord, Th ese observations, in addition to the close similarities of in vitro be haviour which exist between human and monkey Schwann cells, indicate t hat monkey Schwann cells could be an ideal tool to study the potential and limits of autologous transplantation in a non-human primate model of central nervous system demyelination.