Understanding myelination requires more than studying oligodendrocytes alone. It requires human relevant models that capture the complex interactions between neurons, glial cells, and the surrounding CNS environment. In BrainXell’s recent webinar, “More Than Insulation: Human OPCs, Myelination, and In Vitro Modeling,” R&D Scientist Clarisse Fligor, Ph.D. introduced BrainXell’s new human iPSC derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) platform and demonstrated how scalable 2D and 3D systems can support studies of myelination, disease modeling, and therapeutic discovery.
OPCs are the precursor cells that mature into myelin producing oligodendrocytes. They remain in the adult brain throughout life, where they contribute to myelin maintenance and repair. When myelination is disrupted by disease, injury, or aging, these cells become central to understanding why repair succeeds or fails.
“Once we understand what OPCs need to do in vivo, the next challenge is building human systems where we can model those steps in a controlled and disease relevant way.”
Clarisse Fligor, Ph.D.
BrainXell’s human iPSC derived OPCs express key oligodendrocyte lineage markers and demonstrate both proliferative capacity and maturation potential. Under maturation conditions, the cells increase expression of myelin associated markers including MBP, MAG, and MOG, supporting their use in studies of oligodendrocyte differentiation.
Clarisse also emphasized that monoculture alone cannot fully model myelination. While useful for characterization, true myelin formation depends on interactions between multiple CNS cell types. BrainXell demonstrated that astrocytes promote oligodendrocyte maturation, neurons provide the axonal structure required for engagement, and combining both in a tri culture system better recreates the biology of myelination.
The resulting tri culture platform also provides measurable outputs, including an MBP ELISA assay that responds to pro and de myelinating treatments, creating a scalable system for drug screening and assay development.
“Our goal is to provide researchers with the building blocks needed to create more physiologically relevant human CNS models for studying myelination and accelerating therapeutic discovery.”
Clarisse Fligor, Ph.D.
As neuroscience continues to adopt New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), human iPSC derived cell models are becoming increasingly important for bridging the gap between simple in vitro assays and human biology. BrainXell’s OPC platform gives researchers the flexibility to build defined co culture and tri culture systems that support studies of neurodevelopment, demyelinating disease, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery.
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Interested in incorporating human iPSC-derived OPCs into your research?
Explore BrainXell’s complete Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell (OPC) portfolio to learn more about product specifications, applications, and available resources:
View OPCs
Have questions about your research or selecting the right model for your study? We’re here to help.
Clarisse Fligor, PhD
R&D Scientist
cfligor@brainxell.com
BrainXell Applications Science Team
info@brainxell.com
We look forward to supporting your next neuroscience discovery.