Studies with antisera against peripheral nervous system myelin and myelin basic proteins. II. Immunohistochemical studies in cultures of rat dorsal root ganglion neurons and Schwann cells.

Antiserum against rat peripheral nervous system (PNS) myelin contained immunoglobulins which bound preferentially to the extracellular surfaces of myelin-related Schwann cells in intact cultures of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons and Schwann cells, while antiserum against basic protein (BP) from central nervous system myelin or the PNS basic protein P2 did not. We demonstrate the presence of PNS myelin proteins P1 (identical to BP) and P2 by immunoperoxidase techniques in DRG cultures that had been treated to disrupt cellular membranes. These observations suggest that P1 and P2 are not exposed on the extracellular surfaces of myelin-related Schwann cells in culture. The results also support the hypothesis concerning the possible mechanisms by which anti-PNS myelin serum demyelinates DRG cultures, while anti-BP serum and anti-P2 serum do not.