Analysis of a non-obese diabetes-experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (NOD-EAE)

The purpose of this study was to analyze and elucidate the mechanisms of non-obese diabetes-experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (NOD-EAE), an animal model of progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), and to compare the pathological features with those observed in human progressive MS. To achieve this, pathological analysis, flow cytometry analysis, immunohistochemical staining, and transcriptome analysis were performed at each pathological stage of the NOD-EAE mice to characterize each pathological stages in the lesion. In the chronic phase of the NOD-EAE mice, fibrosis and lymph follicle formation, characteristic of progressive human MS, were observed. We describe the pathological profile and transcriptome analysis of the NOD-EAE mice and verify that this model has similar features to those of human progressive MS. Our findings suggest that this model recapitulates lymph follicle formation, a disease hallmark of progressive MS, and fibrosis, a feature complicating the pathogenesis of MS in the chronic phase.