Culture and cryopreservation of adult human oligodendrocytes and astrocytes

Summary Human adult oligodendrocytes were bulkisolated from the brains obtained at autopsy by the Percoll density gradient method and cultured in vitro for 2–28 days. Cultured human oligodendrocytes were then scraped from the dishes or coverslips, frozen at –70°C in the presence of 10% dimethyl sulfoxide as a cryoprotectorant, and then stored in liquid nitrogen tank.After the fast thawing, 55%–70% of human oligodendrocytes plus astrocytes were found to survive in the culture. Identification of cell types was established by using antibodies directed against galactocerebroside (oligodendrocyte) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (astrocyte).Supported by grant no. MA 7700 from the Medical Research Council of Canada and grant no. 72 (83-1) from the British Columbia Health Care Research Foundation