Isolation of Primary Schwann Cells

Primary Schwann cells were isolated from the sciatic nerve segments of neonatal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats as previously described [22 (link)]. Briefly, rat sciatic nerve segments were surgically excised and treated with collagenase and trypsin. Collected cells were cultured in Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium (DMEM; Invitrogen) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Invitrogen), 1% penicillin and streptomycin (Invitrogen), 2 μM forskolin (Sigma), and 10 ng/ml heregulin β1 (HRG; Sigma) till confluence. Cultured cells were then treated with anti-Thy1.1 antibody (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) and rabbit complement (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) to remove fibroblasts. Purified Schwann cells were grown in cell culture medium containing DMEM, 10% FBS, and 1% penicillin and streptomycin (Invitrogen) in a humidified 5% CO₂ incubator at 37 °C. Cultured primary Schwann cells were passaged for no more than 2 passages prior to use.