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Simultaneous Induction of Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis in Obese Strain (OS) Chickens with Spontaneous, Hereditary Autoimmune Thyroiditis¹

From the Department of General and Experimental Pathology, University of Vienna, Medical School, A-1090 Vienna, Austria

Abstract

Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) was elicited in Obese strain (OS) chickens, which develop a spontaneous autoimmune thyroiditis, and in normal White Leghorn (NWLH) chickens by immunization with bovine spinal cord and complete Freund's adjuvant alone or Freund's adjuvant and pertussis vaccine. Control groups were similarly immunized with bovine liver. OS chickens developed severe EAE without any influence on the frequency and severity of spontaneous thyroiditis and on the occurrence of circulating thyroglobulin autoantibodies. The use of pertussis vaccine as a coadjuvant led to slightly more severe EAE in both NWLH and OS birds as compared to Freund's adjuvant alone.

Immunization with bovine spinal cord resulted not only in the formation of antibodies to this antigen but also to the appearance of circulating brain autoantibodies in OS and NWLH chickens.

This avian model which simultaneously displays a spontaneous and an experimentally induced autoimmune disease should provide a very useful tool for the study of the role of the bursa- and thymus-dependent part of the immune system in the development of these diseases.

Footnotes

¹ This investigation was supported by the Austrian National Research Council (Nr. 1039) and a grant from the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.