Quantitation and in vitro analysis of the inflammatory cells in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in the...

Inflammatory cells from the meninges of guinea-pigs with acute EAE have been isolated and quantitated. A mean of 7.5 x 10(6) cells were recovered from the brains of animals showing clinical signs of disease in contrast to only 1.5 x 10(6) cells in the controls. The immunological specificity of the meningeal inflammatory cells was determined using the lymphocyte transformation test and compared with another inflammatory cell population, the peritoneal exudate cells (PECs), in the same animal. The meningeal exudate cells responded only to the mitogen Concanavalin A (Con A) and not to the antigens myelin basic protein and tuberculin (PPD). In contrast, the PECs proliferated in the presence of both antigens and the mitogen.