Figure 1.

The protective effect of NAC on the clinical signs of MBP induced EAE in female Lewis rats. EAE was induced as described in Materials and Methods. Data are given as average clinical disease score where 0 = normal; 1 piloerection; 2 = loss in tail tonicity; 3 = hind leg paralysis; 4 = paraplegia and 5 = moribund. Each group i.e., MBP (closed squares), MBP + NAC (open circles) treated and control group (closed diamonds) had 15 animals (n = 15). EAE animals reached a peak clinical score of 4 or 5 on or around the 11^th day after first immunization and were sacrificed according to approved protocol. NAC treated animals had milder clinical signs (average clinical score of 3 as compared to 4 or 5 for EAE). Control group did not show any clinical symptoms (clinical score = 0).