Studies on Local Antibody Formation in the Nervous System of Paralyzed, Poliomyelitis Convalescent Monkeys

Suspensions, consisting predominantly of the gray matter of the anterior horns of the spinal cord, obtained from rhesus monkeys 27 to 39 days after paralysis produced by the intracerebral injection of any one of three strains of poliomyelitis virus of recent human origin, were tested for antiviral activity against approximately 10 LD50 of the Lansing strain in mice and approximately 20 PD50 of the homologous strains in monkeys. Large numbers of mice and monkeys were used in these tests, but no antiviral activity was found. These results are not in agreement with the report, based on tests in mice, of the presence of high antiviral activity in similar preparations from the spinal cord of paralyzed monkeys, convalescent from infection with the Lansing virus, and do not support the hypothesis of local antibody formation in the nervous system.