Cerebrospinal fluid and the choroid plexus during acute immune complex disease

During acute immune complex disease in the rabbit, immune deposits could be detected in the choroid plexus, as well as the kidney, in a majority of the animals sacrificed from 9 to 14 days after the injection of bovine serum albumin (BSA). During this time there was a good correlation between deposits in the choroid plexus and increases in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) albumin and IgG. A relatively unchanged CSF IgG to albumin ratio was observed, while the CSF to serum albumin level was increased, suggesting an alteration in the blood-CSF barrier permeability to serum proteins. In addition, the temporal appearance of BSA and anti-BSA in the CSF of these animals mirrored their appearance in the serum and in one animal immune complexes could be detected in the CSF. The significance of these results is discussed in relation to the pathogenesis of central nervous system (CNS) disease in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).