Rat oligodendrocytes are lysed on exposure to normal homologous serum as a result of classical pathway complement activation and attack in the absence of anti-myelin antibodies. The effect of non-lethal complement attack on oligodendrocytes in vitro was studied by exposing dissociated neonatal rat optic nerve cell cultures to low concentrations of complement alone and also in the presence of oligodendrocyte-specific monoclonal antibodies. Regardless of the mode of complement activation, non-lethal complement attack led to reversible cell injury, recovery following a transient rise in intracellular calcium and fall in ATP in the absence of membrane permeabilization to propidium iodide. A single episode of non-lethal injury had no effect on the ability of oligodendrocytes subsequently to express cell-specific antigens, but repeated episodes had a cumulative effect and ultimately resulted in cell death. Reversible and/or lytic complement-mediated oligodendrocyte injury has implications for the pathogenesis of human and experimental demyelinating diseases.