CLONAL LINES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

该项目的长期目标是：(1)分离祖细胞

The long term objectives of this project are to (1) isolate progenitor cells of central nervous system cell types; (2) characterize these cells morphologically and biochemically, including the identification of progenitor-cell specific antigens (and development of serological reagents against them) for their subsequent manipulation; and (3) use these populations to study the regulation of the early development of the progenitor cell populations into their immediate progeny. As a first step, the oligodendrocyte progenitor cells will be studied as a model system, taking advantage of the current technical capacity of the laboratory for myelinogenic markers. After isolation and characterization of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, the possibility will be tested that they can be used to bring about remyelination of experimentally demyelinated culture and animal model systems, and by extention, of course, that similar techniques could be applied to human demyelinating disease therapy. The experiments will utilize a variety of cell separation techniques, cell-type specific biochemical and serological markers, mixed cell type and enriched primary cell culture, and clonal cell lines, including glial, neuronal, and teratocarcinoma cell populations.