Olfactory ensheathing cell-neurite alignment enhances neurite outgrowth in scar-like cultures

Exp Neurol, 2015 · DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2015.03.025 · Published: July 1, 2015

Spinal Cord Injury Neurology Regenerative Medicine & Stem Cells

Simple Explanation

The study investigates how olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) can help nerve fibers grow in areas that are normally inhibitory to growth, mimicking the scar tissue that forms after spinal cord injuries. The researchers created a model that mimics the scar environment by combining astrocytes and meningeal fibroblasts, which are key components of spinal cord lesions. The results showed that OECs can significantly enhance the growth of nerve fibers in this scar-like environment, especially when the nerve fibers are in direct contact and aligned with the OECs.

Study Duration

Not specified

Participants

Postnatal day 6–8 rat cerebral cortical neurons, astrocytes, meningeal fibroblasts, and olfactory ensheathing cells

Evidence Level

In vitro study

Key Findings

1
OECs enhanced total neurite outgrowth of cortical neurons in a scar-like environment by 60%.
2
Neurites that aligned with OECs were nearly three times longer when they grew on inhibitory meningeal fibroblast areas compared to neurites not associated with OECs.
3
OECs can independently enhance neurite elongation and that direct OEC-neurite cell contact can provide a permissive substrate.

Research Summary

This study uses a scar-like culture model to investigate how OECs promote neurite outgrowth in the inhibitory environment following SCI. The presence of OECs increased the total neurite tree length of neurons grown in scar-like cultures. OEC-neurite alignment enhances neurite elongation, suggesting that OECs provide a spatially restricted and contact-dependent growth-promoting effect on neurites independently of the scar-like environment.

Practical Implications

Therapeutic Potential

OECs could be used as therapeutic cellular grafts following SCI due to their growth-promoting characteristics.

Targeted Therapies

Understanding the mechanisms behind OEC-neurite alignment can lead to the development of targeted therapies that promote nerve regeneration after spinal cord injury.

Overcoming Inhibitory Factors

OECs' ability to overcome inhibitory factors from fibroblasts and reactive astrocytes suggests potential strategies to modify the injury site environment to support nerve regeneration.

Study Limitations

1
The multicellular nature of the scar-like cultures made it difficult to address the mechanism of growth enhancement via cell-to-cell contact.
2
The study is limited to in vitro experiments, which may not fully replicate the complexities of the in vivo SCI environment.
3
The specific adhesion-type molecules involved in OEC-neurite alignment were not identified in this study.

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