Pattern of Schwann cell remyelination in a spinal cord lesion.
Intraspinal injection of mitomycin C into the rat dorsal columns produced extensive demyelination, axonal degeneration and glial cell death. Five weeks post-injection Schwann cell remyelinated fibers were present along the surface of the dorsal columns and around blood vessels within the lesions. Axons near these sites either were enclosed within a Schwann cell but not myelinated or were completely devoid of any cellular ensheathment. Schwann cells were associated only with those blood vessels which no longer retained astroglial end-feet. It is concluded that Schwann cells migrate into spinal cord lesions along such vessels. The marked sub-pial and perivascular distribution of Schwann cell remyelinated fibers may reflect a failure of Schwann cells to disperse quickly elsewhere within the lesion.
D000818:Animals; D002465:Cell Movement; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016685:Mitomycin; D008937:Mitomycins / Q000633:toxicity*; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology
D008937:Mitomycins; D016685:Mitomycin