title: Behaviour of oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells in an experimental model of toxic demyelination of the central nervous system.
abstract: Oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells are engaged in myelin production, maintenance and repairing respectively in the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Whereas oligodendrocytes act only within the CNS, Schwann cells are able to invade the CNS in order to make new myelin sheaths around demyelinated axons. Both cells have some limitations in their activities, i.e. oligodendrocytes are post-mitotic cells and Schwann cells only get into the CNS in the absence of astrocytes. Ethidium bromide (EB) is a gliotoxic chemical that when injected locally within the CNS, induce demyelination. In the EB model of demyelination, glial cells are destroyed early after intoxication and Schwann cells are free to approach the naked central axons. In normal Wistar rats, regeneration of lost myelin sheaths can be achieved as early as thirteen days after intoxication; in Wistar rats immunosuppressed with cyclophosphamide the process is delayed and in rats administered cyclosporine it may be accelerated. Aiming the enlightening of those complex processes, all events concerning the myelinating cells in an experimental model are herein presented and discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Patologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. dlgraça@lince.hcv.ufsm.br
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Graça
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Bondan
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: C G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Maiorka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000494:pharmacology; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000503:physiopathology; D004996:Ethidium; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D003520:Cyclophosphamide; D004996:Ethidium