Abstract
Purpose: :
Optic neuritis is an inflammatory disease of the optic nerve that occurs in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease that causes demyelination and inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS). Optic neuritis occurs with a high incidence in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an autoimmune-mediated animal model of MS. Viral-induced models of MS are also widely studied, but the incidence of optic neuritis is not well characterized. We examined the incidence of optic neuritis in Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV)-induced encephalomyelitis.
Methods: :
C57Bl6 mice were injected with different strains of MHV that differ in their ability to induce CNS inflammation and demyelination. Optic nerves from infected mice were isolated, fixed and processed histologically to check for the presence of inflammatory infiltrates.
Results: :
Mice infected with MHV-A59, a demyelinating strain of MHV, developed inflammation characteristic of optic neuritis in more than 50% of the optic nerves examined. In contrast, mice infected with MHV-2, a non demyelinating strain of MHV, had little or no optic nerve inflammation.
Keywords: neuro-ophthalmology: optic nerve • inflammation • optic nerve