ABSTRACT
I. INTRODUCTION Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a frequently used animal model for inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the human central nervous system (CNS); for example, multiple sclerosis (MS). Various acute and chronic relapsing forms of EAE can be induced actively in many susceptible animal species (monkeys, rats, guinea pigs, mice) by immunization with xenogeneic or allogeneic spinal cord homogenates, myelin basic protein (MBP) and its relevant peptide fragments, or proteolipid protein (PLP), together with one or several immune adjuvants (Freund's, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bordetella pertussis) (reviewed in refs. 1 and 2). EAE can also be induced by adoptive transfer of MBPspecific T cells or T-cell clones (see ref. 1). The chronic progressive and/ or relapsing forms of EAE may represent especially relevant models for MS.
