Figure 5.

EAE-resistant rats display a better functional recovery than rats from an EAE-susceptible strain. Age- and weight-matched SPD and Lewis male rats (n = 5) suffered spinal cord contusion at level T9. Functional recovery was blindly scored using the BBB locomotor rating scale. SPD rats showed significantly better hindlimb locomotion starting from day 20 and at all time points examined thereafter (*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; two-tailed Student’s t test). This result supports our previous findings (see the text) suggesting that animals that are resistant to pathogenic autoimmunity are capable of mounting a spontaneous protective autoimmune response after CNS injury.