SPLEEN IS REQUIRED FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGIC ENCEPHALOMYELITIS BY PROSTAGLANDIN PRECURSORS

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 36  (3) , 449-455
Abstract
The effects of splenectomy were studied on the immunosuppressive action of essential fatty acids (EFA) which is thought to be mediated through prostaglandins (PG) produced in the spleen. Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in normal, splenectomized and sham splenectomized Lewis rats. EFA were administered orally, the animals in the control groups being treated with liquid paraffin. Treatment with EFA significantly suppressed clinical disease in those animals in which EAE was induced by the inoculation of CNS material of guinea pigs or by passive transfer by Con [concanavalin] A-stimulated spleen cells. Splenectomy abrogated the suppressive effect of EFA. This observation, together with previous results showing the abrogation of EFA immunosuppression by an inhibitor of the biosynthesis of PG from EFA, suggested a close relationship between EFA, PG and a splenic factor suppressing immunopathological mechanisms in EAE.