Antiserum induced myelination inhibition in vitro without complement.

Exposure of neonatal rat cerebellum cultures to antiserum to whole spinal cord or galactocerebroside inhibited myelin formation regardless of whether guinea pig serum was added fresh or after heating to 56 degrees C for 1 h in order to achieve complete removal of hemolytic complement activity. Myelination followed removal of antisera from the culture media. This suggests that the inhibition of primary myelination by anti-CNS tissue antiserum occurs through some mechanism other than as the result of a cytotoxic reaction against oligodendrocytes mediated via the complement system.