Isolation and Culture of Oligodendrocytes

Primary cultures of brain-derived rodent cells are widely used to study molecular and cellular mechanisms in neurobiology. In this chapter, we describe methods of purifying and culturing oligodendroglial cells from mouse perinatal brains. In addition, we describe methods of coculturing the purified oligodendrocytes with neurons. When prepared and cultured according to these protocols, many essential aspects of the biology of oligodendrocytes, such as their proliferation, differentiation, and myelination, can be studied in culture.