Congenic autoimmune murine models of central nervous system disease in connective tissue disorders

Congenic mice of the MRL/Mp strain spontaneously develop an autoimmune connective tissue disease that shares immunological and histopathological features with systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren's syndrome. The autoimmune disorder in these mice is accelerated markedly by the recessive gene lpr. By 6 months of age, MRL/Mp-lpr/lpr mice developed prominent mononuclear cell infiltrates restricted to the choroid plexus and meninges, whereas congeneric MRL/Mp- +/+ mice (which lack the lpr gene) showed delayed but widespread inflammatory infiltrates involving cerebral vessels and meninges, with sparing of the choroid plexus. These distinctive patterns of cerebral inflammation, which are comparable in many respects to those seen in human connective tissue disease, provide some of the first animal models of relevant central nervous system histopathological processes associated with underlying connective tissue disease.