| Abstract: | Olfactory neurons dissociated from the olfactory mucosa of 4–5-week-oldSprague - Dawley rats are plated on either monolayers of ensheathingcells or cortical astrocytes. It is found that the ensheathingcells support a slightly higher percentage of neurite-bearingolfactory neurons than the astrocytes. Scanning electron microscopyshows that some of the cytoplasmic extensions of the ensheathingcells are closely associated with the olfactory axons whileothers appear to ensheath them. Olfactory neurons grown on uncoated,poly-L-lysine or laminin-coated glass coverslips in the presenceof medium conditioned by ensheathing cells fail to grow neurites,suggesting that interaction between membrane molecules, andnot trophic factors, may be required for neurite growth. However,it is unlikely that these membrane molecules are Ll and N-cadherinbecause immunohistochemical staining shows that only a smallproportion of the cultured ensheathing cells express Ll (9%)and N-cadherin (24%). |
