Demyelination produced by experimental allergic neuritis serum and anti-galactocerebroside antiserum in CNS cultures. An ultrastructural study.

Cultures of mouse cerebellum were exposed to sera from rabbits with experimental allergic neuritis induced by whole peripheral nerve immunization (WN-EAN) and to rabbit anti-galactocerebroside (GC) antisera, and were studied by electron microscopy. Both antisera produced almost identical demyelinative patterns. These consisted of large intramyelinic splittings, "smudged" changes of myelin, degeneration of oligodendrocytes, and phagocytosis of myelin by astrocytes, changes similar to those described after application of whole spinal cord-induced experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (WM-EAE) sera. In addition, patterns which have been considered more characteristic of in vivo demyelinative lesions have been found, susch as vesicular disruption of myelin lamellae and peeling off and phagocytosis of myelin by phagocytic mononuclear cells with electron dense cytoplasm. The morphologic similarities between demyelinative patterns in central nervous system (CNS) cultures induced by anti-GC antiserum and WN-EAN serum and WM-EAE serum, and the fact that elevated antibody titers to GC are found in sera from rabbits with WN-EAN and WM-EAE (Saida, et al., 1977), support the concept that anti-GC antibody is the major factor in the production of CNS demyelination in vitro by sera from rabbits with WN-EAN and WN-EAE.