Increased phosphorylation of caveolin-1 in the spinal cord of Lewis rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

The expression of phospho-specific caveolin-1 (p-caveolin-1) was analyzed in the spinal cord of Lewis rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Western blot analysis showed that p-caveolin-1 was constitutively expressed in normal spinal cords and that it significantly increased in the spinal cord with EAE at both early and peak stages of EAE (P<0.05), and decreased slightly at the recovery stage of EAE. Immunohistochemistry showed that p-caveolin-1 was constitutively expressed in few vascular endothelial cells and glial cells in the spinal cords of normal rats. In EAE lesions, p-caveolin-1 was intensely immunostained in inflammatory T cells and macrophages. Therefore, we postulate that phosphorylation of caveolin-1 occurred in the inflammatory cells of EAE lesions, and that caveolin-associated cell activation is mainly associated with inflammatory cells that appear during early and peak stages of EAE.