Changes in brain and spinal cord water content during recurrent experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in female Lewis rats.

Regional changes in percent water content, a measure of regional levels of edema, were determined in female Lewis rats during key stages of recurrent experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (rEAE). The changes in percent water content of the spinal cord and brainstem closely paralleled the clinical and, to a lesser extent, histological course of rEAE (increasing during exacerbations and decreasing during remissions), whereas the percent water content of the forebrain, thalamus/midbrain, hypothalamus, and cerebellum remained constant and equal to control levels at all stages of the disease process. These results suggest that edema formation and resolution in the brainstem and spinal cord may be significant determinants of the transient and recurrent course of neurological dysfunction exhibited by rats with rEAE.