[Immunologic blood-brain barrier in the polyoma virus--Syrian hamster system]

The authors report premilinary results of an experiment on permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to anti-tumor virus-induced immunological factors in the polyoma virus/Syrian Hamster system. The animals were protected by subcutaneous or intracranial injections with virus before challenge with polyoma virus transformed cells by both routes. BBB seemed to be permeable to the efferent part of the subcutaneously induced immune reaction. On the contrary, antigenic information introduced in the central nervous system was trapped inside the BBB. Thus the BBB might offer a "one-way" permeability in this system.