Demyelination was still obvious in LFA-1−/− mice (4.57±1.73%) but almost completely absent in LFA-1+/+ mice (0.12±0.33%). To further analyze the cellular composition of the infiltrates, we prepared single-cell suspensions from selleck compound spinal cords by mechanical disruption and enzymatic

digestion with collagenase. As expected, the total number of cells obtained from spinal cords of LFA-1−/− mice was much higher compared with LFA-1+/+ mice (Fig. 3A). To get more information about the composition of the infiltrates, we used cell subset-specific markers in flow cytometry. Next to microglia, CD4+ T cells represented the major leukocytic population in the spinal cord. Additionally, we found B cells, very few CD8+ T cells, NK cells, NK T cells, γδ T cells, conventional dendritic cells, and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. All these latter populations did not differ Selleckchem RO4929097 significantly between LFA-1−/− and LFA-1+/+ mice. Autoantigen-specific CD4+ T cells are known to be the major pathogenic factor in EAE 8. To get information not only about total but MOG-specific CD4+ T cells, we used a recently established system to detect antigen-specific

T cells with high sensitivity 9. The method is based on a short-term in vitro restimulation with the cognate antigen and subsequent staining for CD40L (CD154). This assay revealed that up to 50% of the infiltrating CD4+ T cells were specific for the autoantigen. Importantly, the frequency of MOG-specific CD4+ T cells was approximately two-fold higher in LFA-1−/− compared with LFA-1+/+ mice (Fig. 3A). In combination 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase with the higher absolute cell numbers, this results in an about five-fold increased number of autoreactive T cells in the spinal cord of LFA-1 KO mice, which can easily explain the more aggravated disease. The frequency of autoreactive T cells directly correlated with disease severity (r=0.82, p=0.0003 for the experiment shown in Fig. 3). It is important to note that the higher cell number cannot be explained by different kinetics of lymphocyte infiltration because

comparable results were obtained regardless whether both groups were analyzed at the same time point (which was not necessarily the peak of clinical signs for both groups) or the peak of the clinical score for individual animals. As LFA-1 was shown to be involved in lymphocyte migration 10, 11, it is tempting to speculate that the higher number of MOG-specific T cells in the spinal cord of LFA-1 KO mice is the result of an enhanced recruitment to the site of inflammation. However, when we used the same strategy to identify MOG-specific T cells in secondary lymphoid organs, it turned out that the difference in antigen-specific T cells was already established in the spleen and the draining lymph nodes (Fig. 3B). Therefore, LFA-1 seems to control the generation and not the distribution of antigen-specific T cells. Pro-inflammatory cytokines, namely IL-17 and IFN-γ, are well recognized as major pathogenic factors in EAE 8.