Enhancement of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis severity by ultrasound emulsification of antigen/adjuvant in distinct strains of mice

Susceptibility to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is associ ated with the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotype. In this stu dy EAE could be induced in six out of ten mice of the resistant DBA/2 (H-2( d)) strain by ultrasound emulsified antigen/adjuvant, whereas none of the m ice immunized with the conventional adjuvant developed the disease. Similar results were previously obtained for the MHC identical BALB/c mice. Furthe r, while only few T cells were present in the central nervous systems (CNS) of the diseased DBA/2 mice, macrophages formed the majority of the infiltr ates. In congenic BALB.B (H-2(b)) and BALB.K (H-2(k)) mice, EAE could be in duced with both sonicated and extruded antigen/adjuvant emulsion. The resul ts indicate that the EAE resistance in mice carrying the H-2(d) MHC haploty pe is dependent on the physical structure of the immunogen.