Abstract: Schwann cells play an important role in the peripheral nervous system, especially in nerve repair following injury, so artifcial nerve regeneration requires an effective technique for obtaining purifed Schwann cells. In vivo and in vitro pre-degeneration of peripheral nerves have been shown to obtain high-purity Schwann cells. We believed that in vitro pre-degeneration was simple and controllable, and available for the clinic. Thus, we co-cultured the crushed sciatic nerves with bone marrow-derived cells in vitro. Results demonstrated that, 3 hours after injury, a large number of mononuclear cells moved to the crushed nerves and a large number of bone marrow-derived cells infltrated the nerve segments. These changes promoted the degradation of the nerve segments, and the dedifferentiation and proliferation of Schwann cells. Neural cell adhesion molecule and glial fbrillary acidic protein expression were detected in the crushed nerves. Schwann cell yield was 9.08 ± 2.01 × 104/mg. The purity of primary cultured Schwann cells was 88.4 ± 5.79%. These indicate a successful new method for obtaining Schwann cells of high purity and yield from adult crushed sciatic nerve using bone marrow-derived cells.

Key words: nerve regeneration, bone marrow-derived cells, Schwann cells, co-culture, in vitro pre-degeneration, dedifferentiation, glial fibrillary acidic protein, neural cell adhesion molecule, mononuclear cells, neural regeneration