Allergic encephalomyelitis as an experimental model for multiple sclerosis.

Proteins isolated from bovine spinal cord exhibit encephalitogenic activity. One of these proteins, of collagen type, was found to be homogeneous. This protein, however, is not considered to be the main encephalitogenic agent; other proteins with different physicochemical characteristics were found to possess higher activity. The use of these proteins will make it possible to study the allergic nature of the experimental disease and may lead to disclosure of the underlying mechanism of the pathological process not only in allergic encephalomyelitis but in multiple sclerosis.