Preclinical model of multiple sclerosis: Methods in autoimmune demyelination

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is characterized by progressive demyelination and neurodegeneration. It is considered an autoimmune disorder as autologous myelin-reactive T cells infiltrate the CNS, activate peripheral and resident innate immune cells, and promote local inflammation. MS in humans is characterized by a wide variety of clinical disease courses, which has made this disease complex to model in an experimental system. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is currently the most common animal model for MS. Animals who undergo EAE recapitulate many of the hallmarks of MS in humans, such as motor deficits and CNS demyelination. Most importantly, all models of EAE utilize myelin-reactive T cells to target the myelin sheath, which allows for the effective investigation and testing of immunomodulatory therapies for MS. Here, we describe several methods by which EAE can be induced, observed, scored, and quantified experimentally.