Modeling of Myelination and Demyelination Processes in Cell Culture of the Rat Cerebellum

We studied the structural features of the myelination process under conditions of culturing of dissociated cerebellar tissue obtained from newborn rats, and we made a comparative analysis of the modifications of the structure of myelin sheaths under the influence of a demyelinating factor – blood serum obtained from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in different stages of the disease was added to the medium. Under the conditions of our experiments, the optimum term for the formation of full-value myelinated sheaths in vitro was 26 days of culturing; thus, we used this time interval for studying the demyelinating influence. Addition of the blood serum of MS patients in the remission or acute stages very quickly (in a few hours) evoked significant morphological damage to the myelin sheaths of the axons. In general, the demyelinating effects of the blood serum of acute-stage MS patients were more significant.