Change in the molecular phenotype of Schwann cells upon transplantation into the central nervous system: Down-regulation of c-jun

Activated Schwann cells such as those in the distal slump of a cut peripheral nerve, or those cultured in vitro, develop a molecular phenotype very different from that of quiescent Schwann cells, and express high levels of the transcription factor c-jun. We studied the expression of c-jun messenger RNA, by in situ hybridization, and Jun-like immunoreactivity Of Schwann cells in segments of peripheral nerve, or in cell suspensions grafted into the adult rat brain. Schwann cells rapidly lost their Jun immunopositivity, and down-regulated expression of c-jun messenger RNA once implanted into the brain, and only the Schwann cells contained in the portion of peripheral nerve which remained outside the brain maintained Jun-like immunopositivity. c-jun messenger RNA was also down-regulated in the grafts, but more slowly than the protein; however, a proximodistal gradient in the level of expression of c-jun messenger RNA along the graft, comparable to that found for Jun immunoreactivity, was not detected. Schwann cells transplanted into the lesioned central nervous system promote regeneration of some injured central nervous system axons, but this regenerative response is always much more limited than peripheral nervous system regeneration. We suggest a correlation between the limited regeneration of central nervous system axons into peripheral nerve grafts and the loss of c-jun expression in Schwann cells following exposure to the central nervous system environment. Copyright (C) 1996 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.