In vivo study | PLP (139-151) induces acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) in SJL/J mice. Beginning on Day 9, the mice treated with PLP (139-151) show signs of EAE and the disease progressed rapidly to paralysis. Central nervous system inflammation, edema, gliosis, and demyelination are found in all mice killed between Days 10 and 28. Young male SJL mice immunized with a major encephalitogenic peptide of myelin, PLP 139-151, develop initial clinical and histological symptoms of EAE with a severity similar to age-matched females; however, unlike females, male mice does not relapse. Significant T cell proliferation to PLP 139-151, but not to other PLP and myelin basic protein (MBP) epitopes, is observed in both males and females during the initial episode, recovery, and first relapse of clinical disease. |