Pathogenesis of acute passive murine encephalomyelitis I. Importance of host-derived cells as determined by kinetic analysis

Kinetics of entry into the CNS of donor- and host-derived T-cells during the onset of acute murine EAE induced by the passive transfer of an encephalitogenic PLP(139-151)-specific T-cell clone was investigated. RT-PCR and spectratypic analysis of total RNA recovered from recipient mice demonstrated the presence in the CNS of donor- and host-derived T-cells 24 h post adoptive transfer. Donor-derived T-cells detected in the CNS decreased days 2-6 post transfer while host-derived T-cells persisted during this time. Beginning 3 days before clinical onset, an increase in the CNS of both T-cell populations was observed which persisted through disease onset. Similar analysis performed on recipients of an nonencephalitogenic PLP(139-151)-specific T-clone demonstrated a transient infiltration of donor- and host-derived T-cells beginning 4 days post transfer (dpt) and returning to background levels by day 7 post transfer. Results presented here suggest the importance of host-derived T-cells in the onset of acute passive murine EAE.