Patent ID: 7166277

Claim:
A method for producing myelin forming cells, comprising: (a) culturing a population of multipotent self-renewing central nervous system (CNS) neural stem cells in a culture medium containing one or more predetermined growth factors that induce multipotent CNS neural stem cell proliferation, wherein: (i) the cells of the population are derived from primary CNS neural tissue by growth in culture medium containing one or more predetermined growth factors effective for inducing multipotent CNS neural stem cell proliferation without requiring oncogenic immortalization of the CNS neural stem cell, (ii) the population comprises cells which stain positive for nestin, and (iii) in the presence of differentiation-inducing conditions, the cells of the population produce progeny cells that differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes; and (b) causing a cell from the multipotent CNS neural stem cell population to come into contact with a demyelinated neuron, wherein the contact induces the cell to differentiate to a myelin-forming cell.