Organotypic slice cultures were established as a model that own properties of both cell culture and animal model. The most often used slice culture is derived from hippocampus but depending on the part of brain affected with pathology, researchers established cultures from cerebellum, midbrain or striatum. Above mentioned models allowed the investigation of disorders resulting from e.g. ischemia, trauma or toxic injury. Besides the brain injury, numerous studies were focused on spinal cord pathology connected with demyelination, inflammation or injury. Here, we describe the development of an in vitro model of longitudinal spinal cord slice culture. Compared to cell (neuron-oligodendrocyte) co-cultures, organotypic slices retain tissue organization as well as cell-cell contacts and therefore more closely mimic the environment in vivo. We demonstrate the applicability of this approach for xenograft transplantation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells derived from rat brain and mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical cord. Stem cells fate after transplantation was observed in two paradigms: after cell transplantation on the top of spinal cord slice cultures (SCC) or cocultivation of cell culture with SCC space separated for 24 h. We observed the different morphology and protein expression of stem cells derived from different sources. Moreover, the same stem cells co-cultured with slices derived from different part of brain (hippocampus or spinal cord) expressed other markers. The method of longitudinal spinal cord slices enables observation of long fibers trajectory, new connections and neurorepair mechanisms. Moreover, it provides a time-efficient and costeffective adjunct to cell lines or in vivo transplantation models for study spinal cord pathology or experimental therapies. Furthermore, the approach can be readily used to assess the effect of pharmacological manipulations on myelin, providing a tool to better understand myelination and develop effective therapeutic strategies to treat myelin-related diseases. Supported by National Science Centre grant: 05728/B/NZ4/2011/01
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