Isolated leptomeninges of the spinal cord: an ideal tool to study inflammatory reaction in EAE

Isolated and stretched leptomeninges have several advantages for the study of basic mechanisms in inflammation of the CNS. They offer a three dimensional view of the vascular tree which has basically the functional characteristics of cerebral vessels (the tight barrier, excluding macromolecules to enter the CNS compartment). The limited, small thickness of the specimen facilitates the performance of histochemical and immunohistochemical methods.