Susceptibility of Lewis Rats to Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis After Recovery from Passively Induced Disease

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in Lewis rats by adoptive transfer of 5 × 10⁷ sensitized syngeneic lymphoid cells from donors challenged 12 to 43 days earlier with myelin basic protein and complete Freund's adjuvant. The donor cells were cultured for 72 hours with antigen prior to transfer. Following recovery, the recipients remained susceptible to EAE induced by challenge with antigen and adjuvant. The relevance of this finding to host recovery mechanisms is discussed.