[Influence of cyclophosphamide on the production of experimentale autoimmune encephalomyelitis (author's transl)]

The aim of the so carried out experiments is to establish whether the created disbalance between T- and B-lymphocyte populations influences the final stages of a cell-mediated reaction in vivo. The chosen model was one of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Guinea pigs were given a single challenge (intradermally in the hind foot-pads) of 70 microgram myelin basic protein (MBP)--isolated from bovine spinal cord--in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Another group of animals was treated intraperitoneally with 200 mg/kg cyclophosphamide (CY) 3 days before the MBP-CFA challenge. The control group received only CY. At different times after the administration of MBP, CY or CY-MBP, the popliteal lymph nodes have been examined and the morphological changes together with the number of anti-MBP antibody synthesizing cells (ASC) were recorded. In the guinea-pigs treated with the CY 3 days before the antigen challenge the disease develops earlier and shows a degree of severity with a threefold greater mean score. The number of ASC is increasing up till the 10th day and slightly decreases toward the 20th day when there are clinical and histological signs of EAE. If MBP is administered after a 3-day action of CY, the number of these cells till the 7th day after the antigen challenge is strongly reduced, then surpasses the normal value about the 10th day and comes back to it towards the 20th day. The results so obtained confirm the concept of the T-lymphocyte mediation of EAE and give us grounds for discussing the CY action on the lymphocyte subpopulation.