Multiple discontinuities are observed in the basal laminas of Schwann cells in mature dystrophic mice. To explore the pathogenesis of this abnormality we have exploited a dystrophic in equilibrium shiverer mouse chimera preparation in which both the basal lamina phenotype and the genotype of myelin-forming Schwann cells can be determined. If the basal lamina abnormality were to arise from an in...

In the developing peripheral nerve, Schwann cells proliferate rapidly and then become quiescent, an essential step in control of Schwann cell differentiation. Cell proliferation is controlled by growth factors that can exert positive or inhibitory influences on DNA synthesis. It has been well established that neonatal Schwann cells divide very slowly in culture when separated from neurons but h...

Rapid saltatory nerve conduction is facilitated by myelin structure, which is composed of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system. Schwann cells drastically change their phenotype following peripheral nerve injury. These phenotypic changes are required for efficient degeneration/regeneration. We previously identified ZNRF1 as an E3 ubiquitin ligase containing a RING finger motif, whose e...

Immature Schwann cells found in perinatal rodent nerves are generated from Schwann cell precursors (SCPs) that originate from the neural crest. Immature Schwann cells generate the myelinating and non-myelinating Schwann cells of adult nerves. When axons degenerate following injury, Schwann cells demyelinate, proliferate and dedifferentiate to assume a molecular phenotype similar to that of imma...

Techniques are now available for culturing well characterized and purified Schwann cells. Therefore, we investigated the role of fibronectin in the adhesion, growth, and migration of cultured rat Schwann cells. Double-immunolabeling shows that, in primary cultures of rat sciatic nerve, Schwann cells (90%) rarely express fibronectin, whereas fibroblasts (10%) exhibit a granular cytoplasmic and f...

Recently, we showed that Schwann cells transfer ribosomes to injured axons. Here, we demonstrate that Schwann cells transfer ribosomes to regenerating axons in vivo. For this, we used lentiviral vector-mediated expression of ribosomal protein L4 and eGFP to label ribosomes in Schwann cells. Two approaches were followed. First, we transduced Schwann cells in vivo in the distal trunk of the sciat...

Recently it has been demonstrated that the growth-associated protein GAP-43 is not confined to neurons but is also expressed by certain central nervous system glial cells in tissue culture and in vivo. This study has extended these observations to the major class of glial cells in the peripheral nervous system, Schwann cells. Using immunohistochemical techniques, we show that GAP-43 immunoreact...

In the vertebrate embryo, Schwann cells lining the peripheral nerves originate from the neural crest (NC), a structure that also gives rise to ganglion satellite cells, most of the neurons of the peripheral nervous system, melanocytes, and part of the cranial mesenchyme. We have studied the emergence of the Schwann cell lineage in vitro in clonal cultures of quail mesencephalic NC cells by usin...

After complete nerve transection, a major challenge for regenerating peripheral axons is to traverse the injury site and navigate toward their original trajectory. Denervated Schwann cells distal to the lesion site secrete factors promoting axonal growth and serve as an axonal substrate, yet whether Schwann cells also actively direct axons toward their original trajectory is unclear. Using live...

We show that highly pure populations of humanSchwann cells can be derived rapidly and in a straightforward way, without the need for genetic manipulation, from human epidermal neural crest stem cells [hEPI-NCSC(s)] present in the bulge of hair follicles. These human Schwann cells promise to be a useful tool for cell-based therapies, disease modelling and drug discovery. Schwann cells are glia t...