Multiple Sclerosis and Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common human demyelinating disease of the CNS. The etiology of MS is poorly understood, however, it is widely believed as a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease that ultimately targets the CNS [1,2]. Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) is the animal model for MS. Although it is an animal model for MS, when we look at the history of EAE, we find that its discovery was not associated with MS. In the early 1930s, while Rivers et al. [3] were wondering about encephalomyelitis in humans upon rabies vaccination, he found encephalomyelitis in animals after repeated injections of dehydrated spinal cords from rabbits infected with rabies. Since then it is being used as a model to study the disease process of encephalomyelitis.