Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Early T cells and TG cells are separate subpopulations.

To investigate whether previously described fluctuations in circulating early T cell levels reflected a change in suppressor activity, early T cell and TG cell values were determined in guinea pigs with acute and chronic experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and normals. It was found that while both subpopulations showed similar changes in EAE, particularly decreases during periods of clinical worsening, changes in the two subpopulations were not always synchronous. Also, similar levels of TG cells could be found both in isolated early and isolated late (total) T cells. These two lines of evidence indicate that early T cells and TG cells are heterologous populations and that early T cells do not reflect suppressor activity, findings in accord with a similar, recent study on multiple sclerosis.