Immunohistological,microscopical and neurochemical studies on encephalitides

Summary Histochemical and immunohistological studies were carried out with brain cell cultures derived from two patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). Morphologically the cultures showed polygonal, probably histiocytic, cell formations and spindle intranuclear inclusion bodies. An increase in intracellular proteins and ribonucleoprotein was demonstrated by histochemical techniques. Fluorescent microscopy revealed an antigen that reacted with measles-specific immunoglobulin in the spindle cells, in the multinucleated giant cells, and in some of the polygonal cells. The findings described resemble the histochemical and immunohistological cell changes in brains of SSPE patients.This investigation was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AZ: Me 270/4), the Stiftung Volkswagenwerk and the Forschungsmitteln des Landes Niedersachen, and also, in part, by the U.S. Public Health Service Research Grant No. R01-06859 to the Wistar Institute from the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke.