We induced acute EAE in Lewis rats and protracted relapsing EAE (PR-EAE) in DA rats and examined mRNA expression of IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, and TNF-beta in brain tissue sections, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cells, and lymph node cells.
Three stages of cytokine mRNA expression could be distinguished: (i) interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-beta (= lymphotoxin-alpha) and cytolysin appeared early and before onset of clinical signs of EAE; (ii) TNF-alpha peaked at height of clinical signs of EAE; (iii) IL-10 appeared increasingly at and after clinical recovery.