Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis--migration of early T cells from the circulation into the central nervous system.

Study of lymphocytes from the blood of guinea pigs with acute EAE induced by isologous spinal cord in adjuvant reconfirmed that in comparison to normals, the percentage of early (active or high affinity rosetting) T cells decreases dramatically and that these changes can be correlated with clinical signs. In addition, we have investigated matching samples of CNS infiltrating cells recovered by ultrasonication and have found that coinciding with the decrease in early T cells in the circulation, significantly higher levels (P less than 0.001) of these cells appear within the CNS compartment; It is concluded that the decrease of early T cells in the circulation is caused by their migration to the target organ, the CNS.