Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in chickens.

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) in chickens of the inbred lines IC, CB, WB and (CBxIC)F1 hybrids was investigated. The IC line and (CBxIC)F1 hybrids gave the best reactions. In bursectomized chickens only slight changes in brain were observed. The intensity of EAE in thymectomized chickens was highly suppressed. Using the anti-T and anti-B sera it was shown that, the percentage of EAE of B lymphocytes was increased. Among the used several immunosuppressive drugs which generally decreased inflammatory reactions in brain the best results were observed with azathioprine and actinomycin D. Moreover, cyclophosphamide gave the worse results which was shown in the same experiments. The aim of our experiments was to define the role of thymus and bursa of Fabricius and peripheral B and T lymphocytes in the course of EAE. Moreover, the effect of immunosuppressive drugs on EAE was studied.