Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in mice: encephalitogenicity of mouse central myelin basic proteins.

Two co-extractable myelin basic proteins (MBP) were isolated and purified from mouse brain and designated: large (L), estimated to be composed of 160-164 amino acid residues, and small (S), estimated to contain 114-115 residues. The two proteins migrate separately in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) in a pattern similar to rat MBP-S and MBP-L; mouse MBP-L resembles rat MBP-L, human, bovine and guinea pig MBP by PAGE and by amino acid analysis. This report demonstrates for the first time that mouse MPB-L alone, and not mouse MBP-S, is encephalitogenic for guinea pigs and mice.