Nature 196, 901 - 902 (01 December 1962); doi:10.1038/196901b0

Optic Neuritis and Encephalomyelitis in Monkey produced with Human Optic Nerve

M. VULPE^*, J. S. MEYER & M. GOODMAN

Departments of Neurology and Microbiology, College of Medicine, Wayne State University.
^*Present address: Lafayette Clinic, Detroit, Michigan.

OPTIC neuritis is an integral part of the encephalomyelitis which rarely follows anti-rabies vaccination with brain preparations^1,6. This condition in man is an accidental allergic encephalomyelitis and appears to be identical to the experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) produced in animals by injection of brain. Optic neuritis also occurs in other forms of encephalomyelitis and in multiple sclerosis². The lesions in these demyelinating diseases may be due to an immunological process³. If so, an encephalitogenic antigen common to the developmentally related optic nerve, brain and spinal cord may account for the simultaneous appearance of the lesions in these structures. Suggestive evidence of such an antigen has been provided by the demonstration of optic nerve lesions in animals in which EAE was produced by injection of brain³.

1. Shiraki, H. , and Otani, S. , in Allergic Encephalomyelitis, edit. by Kies, M. W., and Alvord, E., 58 (Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, 1959).
2. Adams, R. D. , ibid., 183.
3. Roizin, L. , and Kobb, L. C. , ibid., 5.
4. Witesbky, E. , ibid., 321.
5. Freund, J. , Adv. Tuber. Res., 7, 130 (1956).
6. Kawabata, H. , J. Exp. Ophth., 17, 727 (1934).
7. Vulpe, M. , and Olszewski, J. , J. Neuropath and Exp. Neurol., 18, 324 (1959). | ISI | ChemPort |
8. Vulpe, M. , Hawkins, A. , and Rozdilsky, B. , Neurology, 10, 171 (1960). | ISI |