Age-Dependent Effects of Transgenic 2D2 Mice Used to Induce Passive Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis in C57BL/6 Mice

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease that worsens with age. Here, we examined the influence of age on passive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (P-EAE), a model to study MS, using young and mature adult 2D2 transgenic donor mice to induce pathology in WT C57BL6/J mice. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Lymphocytes from young adult (i.e., 10-week-old) or mature adult (i.e., 6-month-old) transgenic donor mice were characterized by flow cytometry prior to injection of cultured leukocytes into adult female WT recipient mice, with a special focus on transgenic T cell phenotypes. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Our findings show age-dependent changes in memory T cell phenotypes correlated with more severe clinical and histological disease when donor cells originated from young as compared to mature adult mice. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Not only do these results demonstrate that the age of the 2D2 transgenic donor mice is critical in establishing P-EAE, but the differential effects might also identify age-dependent factors that contribute to EAE and perhaps MS.