The effect of serum from multiple sclerosis patients in remission on the incubated rat brain slices.

Addition of human serum to incubated rat cerebral slices induced increased generation of myelin-related, membranous fragments floating on 0.32 M sucrose. Sera from 20 healthy subjects and 19 patients with various neurological disorders were equally active in this respect. On the other hand, the myelin-degrading activity of sera from 20 multiple sclerosis patients in remission was found to be significantly elevated by about 50%. The present findings support the contention that the serum of multiple sclerosis patients possesses increased potency to induce myelin sheath alterations.