Characterization of glial subpopulations in cultures of the ovine central nervous system.

The cellular composition and in vitro development of glial cultures derived from the rat CNS has been well studied. However, less information is available on similar cultures from other species, particularly higher mammals. To study ovine glial development in vitro, cultures from 50-day fetal to adult animals were characterized with various immunocytochemical markers, which are frequently used to define neural cell subsets in rat cultures. As in rats, both A2B5+ and A2B5− astrocytes can be identified in ovine cultures. However, ovine A2B5+ and A2B5− could not be reliably differentiated by their morphology, which was more influenced by whether the cells were in serum-free or serum-containing media than by their A2B5-positive or -negative status. In addtion, ovine A2B5 + astrocytes were present in cultures from early fetal brain before the development of identifiable oligodendrocytes, unlike rat type II astrocytes, which develop only after the appearance of oligodendrocytes. An A2B5 + cell, morphologically similar to the rat 02-A cell, can be found in cultures from fetal ovine cerebrum or cerebellum. A2B5 +/ glial fibrillry acidic protein (GFAP)– cells in cultures from 100- to 115-day ovine cerebellum appeared to differentiate into A2B5 + astrocytes in serum-containing media. However, in serum-free media, although the A2B5 + cells assumed a more “oligodendroglial-like” morphology, they did not express galactocerebroside or myelin basic protein, suggesting that these cells may not be bipotential as is the rat 02-A cell. Oligodendroglial differentiation was not induced by treatment with dibutyryl cyclic AMP or insulin-like growth factor I. Many cells in cultures from a variety of fetal ages did not label with any of the immunocytochemical markers used, suggesting the need for more cell-type-specific markers to identify neural cell subsets in higher mammals.