Schwann cell cultures from human fetal dorsal root ganglia

Yaping Feng; Hui Zhu; Jiang Hao; Xinmin Wang; Shengping Wu; Li Bai; Xiangming Li; Yun Zha

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2009.06.004

摘要：BACKGROUND:Previous studies have used many methods for in vitro Schwann cells (SCs) cul-tures and purification,such as single cell suspension and cytosine arabinoside.However,it has been difficult to obtain sufficient cellular density,and the procedures have been quite tedious.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the feasibility of culturing high-density SCs using fetal human dorsal root ganglion tissue explants.DESIGN,TIME AND SETTING:Cell culture and immunohistochemistry were performed at the Cen-tral Laboratory of Kunming General Hospital of Chinese PLA between March 2001 and October 2008.MATERIALS:Culture media containing 10% fetal bovine serum,as well as 0.2% collagenase and 0.25% trypsin were purchased from Gibco,USA;mouse anti-human S-100 monoclonal antibody and goat anti-mouse IgG labeled with horseradish peroxidase were provided by Beijing Institute of Bi-ological Products,China.METHODS:Primarily cultured SCs were dissociated from dorsal root ganglia of human aborted fe-tuses at 4-6 months pregnancy.Following removal of the dorsal root ganglion perineurium,the gan-glia were dissected into tiny pieces and digested with 0.2% collagenase and 0.25% trypsin (volume ratio 1:1),then explanted and cultured.SC purification was performed with 5 mL 10% fetal bovine serum added to the culture media,followed by differential adhesion.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:SCs morphology was observed under inverted phase contrast light microscopy.SC purity was evaluated according to percentage of S-100 immunostained cells.RESULTS:SCs were primarily cultured for 5-6 days and then subcultured for 4-5 passages.The highly enriched SC population reached > 95% purity and presented with normal morphology.CONCLUSION:A high purity of SCs was obtained with culture methods using human fetal dorsal root ganglion tissue explants.