Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis in mice: encephalitogenicity of mouse central myelin basic proteins

Abstract

Two co‐extractable myelin basic proteins (MBP) were isolated and purified from mouse brain and designated: large (L), estimated to be composed of 160–164 amino acid residues, and small (S), estimated to contain 114–115 residues. The two proteins migrate separately in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) in a pattern similar to rat MBP‐S and MBP‐L; mouse MBP‐L resembles rat MBP‐L, human, bovine and guinea pig MBP by PAGE and by amino acid analysis. This report demonstrates for the first time that mouse MPB‐L alone, and not mouse MBP‐S, is encephalitogenic for guinea pigs and mice.