Blood levels of kinins in experimental allergic encephalomyelitis.

The pathology of acute experimental allergic encephalomyelitis is characterized by perivascular cellular infiltrates in the central nervous system. Our hypothesis is that this immuno-pharmacological process can activate the circulating and tissular kallikrein-kinin systems. We studied 21 New Zealand rabbits inoculated with a homogenate of guinea-pig spinal cord in complete Freund's adjuvant. Each animal underwent radioimmunoassay for arterial blood bradykinin, des-Arg9-bradykinin and des-Phe8-des-Arg9-bradykinin during the acute or subacute clinical phase of encephalomyelitis. Immediately after blood sampling, all animals had their complete central nervous system dissected out and prepared for staining and histological study. The number of hematoxylin-eosin-stained perivascular cellular infiltrates was counted at eight levels of the central nervous system, from the hypothalamic to sacral spinal segments. We demonstrated a positive significant (P less than or equal to 0.02) correlation (r = 0.55) between the number of perivascular cellular infiltrates and blood level of the biologically active kinin bradykinin.