Jefferson immunology researchers show blood-brain barrier damage could affect M...( ese animals can get. This puts an...),Health

"This puts an emphasis on the fact that blood brain permeability changes are an important aspect of the development of a CNS inflammatory disease like EAE, an animal model of MS," he says.

According to Dr. Hooper, previous studies by his group and other researchers have shown that blood-brain barrier permeability is critical in the development of MS. To study this permeability, he and his co-workers looked at a range of mice lacking certain genes for various types of immune system and inflammatory cells such as NF kappaB, TNF-alpha, and interferon alpha, beta and gamma that contribute to disease. The researchers established EAE in each mouse strain and examined what was common to all of the animals when they developed disease.

"Whats astounding is that mice that wouldnt be expected to develop EAE because they have major defects in their immune system are still able to develop disease," though at different rates, he notes.

However, mice missing the immune protein TNF-alpha often did not show disease, despite the increase in brain barrier permeability, causing the scientists to speculate about its role in the disease. "This is the first proof that there are permeability changes in all of these animals and the first hint that permeability doesnt always equal disease," he says.

Dr. Hooper notes that the work is part of the long-range goal of determining the exact role of blood-brain barrier permeability in disease. "These results tell us a great deal about the mechanisms that damage the blood-brain barrier," he says. "All of these factors that are missing in the mice arent essential to opening the blood brain barrier."