A. Kavelaars et al., Individual behavioral characteristics of wild-type rats predict susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, BRAIN BEH, 13(4), 1999, pp. 279-286
Neuroendocrine-immune interactions are thought to be important in determini
ng susceptibility to autoimmune disease. Animal studies have revealed that
differences in susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
(EAE) are related to:reactivity in the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.
It is known that there is a close relation between neuroendocrine parameter
s and behavioral characteristics, suggesting that behavior and disease susc
eptibility may be associated. In the present study we investigated whether
behavioral characteristics of wild-type rats are related to susceptibility
to disease. We show here that the latency of the animal to attack an intrud
er correlates significantly with the EAE disease score: animals that do not
attack the intruder during the test period are more resistant to the disea
se than animals with short attack latency times. These data, obtained in an
unselected strain of wild-type rats, demonstrate that behavioral response
patterns of individual animals can in part predict susceptibility to autoim
mune disease. (C) 1999 Academic Press.