Aim: 

Olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) are a specialized glial cell type, which ensheath bundles of olfactory receptor axons. OECs present many phenotypic properties with astrocytes and Schwann cells (SCs). Immunohistochemical studies have demonstrated that OECs express different glial markers, adhesion molecules and different growth and factors. OECs remyelinate axons and improve functional recovery after spinal cord injury.

Methods: 

In this study, we examined expression of different markers in rat OECs grown in different conditions. OECs were prepared from postnatal rat (P2) olfactory bulbs, grown both in serum containing medium and serum-free medium with added some growth factors (bFGF and GDNF). After ten days, OECs cultures were processed for immunostaining for calponin, nestin, Protein Gene Product (PGP 9.5) and Microtubule Associate Protein-2 (MAP-2).

Results: 

Our results showed that when OECs cultures were grown in serum containing medium with bFGF, nestin and calponin showed higher labelling expression than grown with GDNF or without growth factors. When OECs were grown in serum-free medium growth factors-treated showed an increased expression of nestin. Moreover, the expression of neuronal markers (PGP 9.5 and MAP-2) was increased in OECs grown in serum-free medium both treated with growth factors and without them.

Conclusion: 

This result suggests that there is a synergic action between serum and growth factors in the expression of calponin, in contrast the highest expression of neuronal markers in serum-free medium might be explained by serum contains molecules that inhibit the effect of growth factors on the PGP and MAP-2 expression.