The oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPCs) are the abundant population of NG2-positive cells in the young and adult CNS. They are capable of myelinogenesis, but they are also among the first cells to react to CNS injuries. Over the last decade, these glia commited progenitors have been however the subject of intensive research in context of their assumed neural stem cell properties. In our studies we have addressed the question of the impact of the local tissue microenvironment on the OPC commitment and differentiation. Their susceptibility to external stimuli and assumed intrinsic neurogenic potential have been investigated in co-culture models with organotypic slices derived from two distinct CNS regions (hippocampus and spinal cord). The hippocampal slice culture exposed to oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) was used to evaluate the cell differentiation in microenvironment conditioned by traumatized tissue. The results have shown that the local instructive clues not only trigger the neuronal commitment of oligodendrocyte progenitors, but also govern the oligodendroglial maturation. While the trophic factors secreted by hippocampal slices efficiently promoted neurogenesis, the observed effect was significantly abolished in co-cultures with the OGD-subjected tissue. The less pronounced susceptibility to adopting neuronal phenotype and the considerable slowdown of oligodendroglial differentiation was observed in the co-cultures with the spinal cord slices. Our findings indicate that OPCs actually meet some of the neural stem cell criteria. The obtained results also suggest that the specificity of the instructive clue cocktail might module the fate choice of mobilized endogenous or transplanted cells, which is important while planning neurorepair strategies. Supported by grant 0345/B/P01/2010/38.
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