Skip to main content
Clinical and Experimental Immunology logoLink to Clinical and Experimental Immunology
. 1967 May;2(3):295–309.

Myelotoxicity of serum and spinal fluid in multiple sclerosis: a critical assessment

D Hughes, E J Field
PMCID: PMC1578850  PMID: 6035194

Abstract

Explants of neonatal rat cerebellum have been cultured on rat-tail collagen coated cover-slips for 2–4 weeks under conditions which yielded well myelinated nerve fibres suitable for testing myelotoxicity of serum. Eighty-four per cent of twenty-five acute multiple sclerosis serum samples were myelotoxic, as opposed to 62% of twenty-six sera from cases of motor neurone disease. Twenty-four per cent of thirty-four normal sera also showed distinct myelotoxicity. The difficulties in setting up and interpreting tests for in vitro demyelinating activity of serum are discussed. Six spinal fluids from acute cases of multiple sclerosis were without activity. It is concluded that although myelotoxicity exists in most samples of serum from acute multiple sclerosis, it is not limited to such subjects and that its high incidence in motor neurone disease sera indicates that it may well be a consequence of myelin destruction rather than a primary factor in its causation.

Full text

PDF
296

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. APPEL S. H., BORNSTEIN M. B. THE APPLICATION OF TISSUE CULTURE TO THE STUDY OF EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS. II. SERUM FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR DEMYELINATION. J Exp Med. 1964 Feb 1;119:303–312. doi: 10.1084/jem.119.2.303. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. BARLOW C. F. A study of abnormal blood-brain permeability in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1956 Apr;15(2):196–207. doi: 10.1097/00005072-195604000-00005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. BERG O., KALLEN B. an in vitro gliotoxic effect of serum from animals with experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1962;54:425–433. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1962.tb05084.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. BORNSTEIN M. B. A tissue-culture approach to demyelinative disorders. Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 1963 Mar;11:197–214. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. BORNSTEIN M. B., APPEL S. H. TISSUE CULTURE STUDIES OF DEMYELINATION. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1965 Mar 31;122:280–286. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1965.tb20212.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. BORNSTEIN M. B., MURRAY M. R. Serial observations on patterns of growth, myelin formation, maintenance and degeneration in cultures of new-born rat and kitten cerebellum. J Biophys Biochem Cytol. 1958 Sep 25;4(5):499–504. doi: 10.1083/jcb.4.5.499. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. BORNSTEIN M. B. Reconstituted rattail collagen used as substrate for tissue cultures on coverslips in Maximow slides and roller tubes. Lab Invest. 1958 Mar-Apr;7(2):134–137. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. FIELD E. J., CASPARY E. A., BALL E. J. Some biological properties of a highly active encephalitogenic factor isolated from human brain. Lancet. 1963 Jul 6;2(7297):11–13. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(63)92533-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. FIELD E. J. The early lesions of experimental "allergic" encephalomyelitis. Exp Neurol. 1961 Sep;4:233–240. doi: 10.1016/0014-4886(61)90045-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Field E. J., Hughes D. Toxicity of motor neurone disease serum for myelin in tissue culture. Br Med J. 1965 Dec 11;2(5475):1399–1401. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.5475.1399. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. HASHEM N., BARR M. L. MITOGENIC EFFECT OF RABIES VACCINE ON CULTURES OF LYMPHOCYTES IN DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. Lancet. 1963 Nov 16;2(7316):1029–1030. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(63)90004-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. HILD W. Myelogenesis in cultures of mammalian central nervous tissue. Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat. 1957;46(1):71–95. doi: 10.1007/BF01106147. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lamoureux G., Boulay G., Borduas A. G. A cytotoxic antibody for cultured nervous tissue in serum and cerebrospinal fluid from rhesus monkeys with allergic encephalomyelitis. Clin Exp Immunol. 1966 Jul;1(3):307–321. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Clinical and Experimental Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES