[The study of anti-oligodendrocyte antibody in sera, and CSF of patients with multiple sclerosis].

We studied anti-oligodendrocyte antibody in sera and CSF from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological diseases (OND) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Oligodendrocytes were isolated by percoll density gradient from brains of 4 week-old rat and cultured in poly-1-lysine-coated 96 well microwell plate. After overnight culture, oligodendrocytes were fixed in 0.5% glutaraldehyde and stored at -20 degrees C. ELISA was performed using peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-human IgG (Fab')2 as usual. Serum and CSF were examined at dilution of 1:400 and 1:2 respectively, and O.D. was read at 490 nM. In sera from patients with MS and OND, the titer of anti-oligodendrocyte antibody was significantly higher than those from normal controls. However, there was no significant difference between MS and OND. Significantly higher titer of anti-oligodendrocyte antibody was observed in CSF from patients with meningoencephalitis and polyradiculoneuropathy. However, comparing CSF anti-oligodendrocyte antibody per CSF IgG, there was no significant difference among each group. There was no significant correlation between the cytotoxicity index of sera and anti-oligodendrocyte antibody level. There might be additional cytotoxic factor other than anti-oligodendrocyte antibody. Our data support the idea anti-oligodendrocyte antibody is not specific to MS, and the role of anti-oligodendrocyte antibody in the pathogenesis of MS is secondary.