Myelination of congenitally dysmyelinated forebrains using oligodendrocyte progenitor cells
One form of the present invention is directed to a method of remyelinating demyelinated axons by treating the demyelinated axons with oligodendrocyte progenitor cells under conditions which permit remyelination of the axons. Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method of treating a subject having a condition mediated by a loss of myelin or a loss of oligodendrocytes by administering to the subject oligodendrocyte progenitor cells under conditions effective to treat the condition mediated by a loss of myelin or a loss of oligodendrocytes. A further aspect of the present invention relates to an in vitro method of identifying and separating oligodendrocyte progenitor cells from a mixed population containing other mammalian brain or spinal cord cell types.
1. An in vitro method of obtaining human oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, said method comprising:
providing a mixed population containing human brain or spinal cord cell types;
removing neurons and neuronal progenitor cells expressing polysialylated N-CAM (PSA-NCAM) from the mixed population to produce a treated mixed population; and
removing the oligodendrocyte progenitor cells expressing A2B5 from the treated mixed population to form an enriched population of A2B5 + /PSA-NCAM − oligodendrocyte progenitor cells.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the human brain or spinal cord cell types are from adult humans.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the human brain or spinal cord cell types are from post-natal humans.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the human brain or spinal cord cell types are from fetal humans.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 90% of the enriched population are A2B5 + /PSA-NCAM − glial progenitor cells.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 95% of the enriched population are A2B5 + /PSA-NCAM − glial progenitor cells.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 99% of the enriched population are A2B5 + /PSA-NCAM − glial progenitor cells.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said removing oligodendrocyte progenitor cells expressing A2B5 is carried out by immunoseparation.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said removing neurons and neuronal progenitor cells expressing PSA-NCAM is carried out by immunoseparation.