Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Exsudate and cellular infiltrates in the spinal cord of Lewis rats.

Classical acute allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) was provoked in Lewis rats with bovine spinal cord (BWM) in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). An efficient immunohistologic technique (peroxidase-antiperoxidase (PAP) was used to trace exsudates of fibrinogen and immunoglobulin as well as their coexistence with cellular infiltrates and clinical signs. Exsudation was restricted to the vessels exhibiting cellular infiltrates. The findings do not lend support to the assumption that exsudation of circulating factors is the initial local event in EAE. It also remains open, whether the exsudation of fibrinogen and gamma globulin are responsible for the clinical symptoms.