Medical Student Research Forum Posters

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease effecting around 1 million people in the US. This disease in associated with physical symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, pain and psychological symptoms such as mood problems and diminished sociability. MS also has been shown to be sexually biased toward females. In this project we have used the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) and relapsing remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (RREAE), the mouse model for MS. We hypothesized that EAE progression is associated with changes in muscle strength, balance, pain, and sociability and that these variations are linked to sex and/or strain. Our results indicate that strain but not sex influenced differences in muscle strength and balance during EAE, and both sex and strain have an impact on sociability and mechanical nociception, regardless of EAE disease status. Our goal is to provide some insight about the change in social behavior of MS patients and its effect on their social and day to day activities.