Improvements in obtaining and characterizing mouse cerebrospinal fluid. Application to mouse hepatitis virus-induced encephalomyelitis.

This report describes advances in techniques for analyzing cellular and humoral immune components in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of the mouse that are applicable to other laboratory animals. CSF studies undertaken during experimental infection of mice with JHM strain virus (JHMV) of mouse hepatitis virus are presented. A critical pitfall which can lead to erroneous or invalid results is contamination of the CSF by even minute quantities of blood. Means of avoiding this contamination are attention to anatomical reference points, the use of a micropipet, and prior intracardiac perfusion of animals with phosphate-buffered saline. Cells in the CSF were typed as either B, T, polymorphonuclear, or mononuclear cells by the combination of a microcytotoxicity assay and histologic stains. A radioimmunoassay (RIA) allowed quantification of antibodies to JHMV in the CSF and indicated the presence of intrathecal synthesis of antibody in chronically infected mice. The combined use of these sensitive methods makes possible CSF analysis in individual mice rather than in pooled groups.