Demyelination Allergic encephalitis

Most cells of the immune system are ordinarily kept apart from those of the nervous system by means of the blood-brain barrier. However, allergic encephalomyelitis, in which T cells attack the myelin sheath of brain neurons, can easily be induced in mice.506 A similar autoimmune process is thought to be involved in human multiple sclerosis (see Chapter 30, pp. 1769, 1808, and Fig. 30-9).507,508 High levels of circulating IgM are found in some demyelinating diseases of peripheral neurons.508 In Rasmussen s encephalitis, which causes brain inflammation and epilepsy, serum antibodies attack a glutamate receptor subunit GluR3.509... 

EAE experimental allergic/autoimmune encephalitis is an animal model for demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. It is induced by injection of myelin basic protein or whole CNS tissue together with adjuvants. 

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