Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2005 Sep 13.
Published in final edited form as: Neuron. 2002 Dec 5;36(5):855–868. doi: 10.1016/s0896-6273(02)01067-x

Figure 8. Adenosine Priming Promotes Myelination by OPCs.

Figure 8

Brief exposure to adenosine was sufficient to promote OPC differentiation and alignment with axons. OPCs were primed by a 48 hr exposure to adenosine, replated onto 3-week-old DRG cultures, and stained for O1. In marked contrast to controls (A), adenosine-primed OPCs expressing the O1 antigen (red) formed multiple parallel processes that were closely associated with axons after only 1 day in co-culture (B). The proportion of O1+ cells with multiple parallel processes increased 402% in cocultures prepared with adenosine-primed OPCs as compared with cocultures of OPCs primed with PDGF or N1, a culture condition known to promote OPC differentiation and increase O1 expression (C) (p < 0.0001; ANOVA, n = 18 cultures). Data shown are normalized to the total number of O1+ cells/field. Similar results were obtained when expressed as the percentage of total OPCs/field (3.5% ± 0.37% versus 0.33% ± 0.12%; adenosine versus control, p < 0.000, n = 15). After 10–12 days in coculture, the degree of myelination was compared in control (D) and cocultures prepared with adenosine-primed OPCs (E) using immunocyto-chemical staining for MBP. (F) A 633% increase in the number of MBP+ myelin profiles/field was seen in cocultures made from adenosine primed OPCs, as compared with controls (E) (p < 0.0001, t test, n = 20 cultures). *Significantly different from control.