Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, a model of demyelination in central nervous system (CNS)

Different forms of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis were obtained in 31 guinea pigs. Four groups of animals were studied: 7 adult Hartley guinea pigs (Group 1), 12 adult Hartley guinea pigs (Group 2), 6 juvenile strain 2 guinea pigs (Group 3), 6 juvenile strain 13 guinea pigs (Group 4). The increment of the antigenic load induced different disease courses in the animals. The different disease courses were attributed to differential inactivation of the cell-mediated response to the injected antigens. The intraneural injection of serum withdrawn from guinea pigs affected by EAE induced demyelination in the optic nerve fibers of healthy rats. Areas of demyelination with naked axons were evident 30 days following the injection when Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) delays were of as much as 27 msec. Our experiments demonstrated the activity of EAE sera (probably antiGal-Cer antibodies) on the myelin sheats of nervous fibers.