Therapeutic effet of phase ii enzyme inducers in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (eae)

The pathology of multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by an inflammatory mononuclear infiltration in the white matter. The oxidative stress plays a role in the onset and progression of MS. We hypothesized that the decreasing oxidative stress might improve MS inflammatory lesions. The experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) induced in the Lewis rats were used to test this hypothesis. 24 animals were placed into two groups: 1) those on normal rat chow, 2) those on rat chow containing 7.5 g/kg of tetra-butyl-hydroxy-anisole (BHA), a food preservative. All the animals were induced to have EAE and examined daily in a double-blinded fashion. On 28th day of the induction, all animals were sacrificed, blood collected for glutathione (GSH) measurements and tissues collected for histology. All the animals, regardless of their diet status developed symptoms of EAE on a different days ranging from tail weakness to hind limb paralysis and all reached remission of acute EAE before the 28th day of induction. 8 animals of the non-BHA fed animals developed hind limb weakness in and 4 animlas developed hind limb paralysis, while 2 animals of BHA fed group developed tail paralysis, 2 hind limb weaknesses and 8 hind limb paralysis. The histology of the non-BHA group correlated well with the clinical symptoms of perivascular mononuclear infiltration, however, the BHA fed group revealed complete pathological recovery. Animals fed with BHA diet had significantly raised their GSH blood level, indicating up regulation of anti-oxidants activity. We conclude that dietary phase 2 enzyme inducers show potential therapeutic benefits in EAE, this result might assist in treating patients with MS.