Neuroimmunological characterization of a mouse model of primary progressive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and effects of immunosuppressive or neuroprotective strategies on disease evolution.

Neuroimmunological characterization of a mouse model of primary progressive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and effects of immunosuppressive or neuroprotective strategies on disease evolution. Exp Neurol. 2019 Sep 16;:113065 Authors: Buonvicino D, Ranieri G, Pratesi S, Guasti D, Chiarugi A Abstract Progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) is a devastating disorder sustained by neuroimmune interactions still wait to be identified. Recently, immune-independent, neural bioenergetic derangements have been hypothesized as causative of neurodegeneration in PMS patients. To gather information on the immune and neurodegenerative components during PMS, in the present study we investigated the molecular and cellular events occurring in a Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse model of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). In these mice, we also evaluated the effects of clinically-relevant immunosuppressive (dexamethasone) or bioenergetic drugs (bezafibrate and biotin) on functional, immune and neuropathological parameters. We found that immunized NOD mice progressively accumulated disability and severe neurodegeneration in the spinal cord. Unexpectedly, although CD4 and CD8 lymphocytes but not B or NK cells infiltrate the spinal cord linearly with time, their suppression by different dexamethasone treatment schedules did not affect disease progression. Also, the spreading of the autoimmune response towards additional immunogenic myeli...
Source: Experimental Neurology - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Exp Neurol Source Type: research