From the annals of neurology-response by Prineas and Barnett

SammyJo · Family Member Joined: Mar 11, 2004 Posts: 40

This goes against what Prineas was speculating. But he was probably looking at MS disease varient A (non immune), and this is varient B (immune).
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J Neurosci. 2004 Mar 10;24(10):2458-64.

Direct impact of T cells on neurons revealed by two-photon microscopy in living brain tissue.

Nitsch R, Pohl EE, Smorodchenko A, Infante-Duarte C, Aktas O, Zipp F.

Institute of Anatomy, Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Humboldt University Medical School Charite, D-10098 Berlin, Germany.

Encephalitogenic T cells invade the brain during neuroinflammation such as multiple sclerosis (MS), inducing damage to myelin sheaths and oligodendrocytes. Only recently, neuronal structures were reported to be a crucial target in the disease. Here, two-photon microscopy using ion-sensitive dyes revealed that within the complex cellular network of living brain tissue, proteolipid protein (PLP)-specific T cells and T cells recognizing the nonmurine antigen ovalbumin (OVA) directly and independently of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) contact neurons in which they induce calcium oscillations. T cell contact finally resulted in a lethal increase in neuronal calcium levels. This could be prevented by blocking both perforin and glutamate receptors. For the first time, our data provide direct insight into the activity of T cells in the living brain and their detrimental impact on neurons.

PMID: 15014121