Immunohistological studies, with anti-connective tissue and anti-immunoglobulin antisera, of the skin in lupus erythematosus and scleroderma

Skin lesions from six patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, five patients with discoid lupus erythematosus, twelve patients with systemic sclerosis, five patients with localized morphoea and twenty controls were examined by immunohistological techniques using fluorescein-labelled anti-human IgG, anti-human C3 and anti-human renal glomerulus antisera. The major immunohistological changes in systemic sclerosis and in localized morphoea consisted of foci of intercollagenous staining for connective tissue antigens in the reticular layer of the dermis. It is suggested that these findings indicate collagen neogenesis. In lupus erythematosus the major changes occur in the dermo-epidermal junction and consist of deposits of IgG and C3 and thickening and disruption of the membrane as demonstrated by the use of heterologous sera containing antibasement membrane antibodies. Immunohistological techniques are useful in the diagnostic differentiation between scleroderma and lupus erythematosus.

Properties of canine tissue thromboplastins from brain, lung, arteries, and veins

Properties of the protein moieties of canine tissue thromboplastins (TTP's) from brain (BTTP), lung (LTTP), arteries (ATTP), AND VEINS (VTTP) were determined. The maximum specific activity of each protein moiety after its relipidation was obtained when the phospholipid-delipidated TTP ratio was 0.32 and was 1,395 U/mg BTTP, 1,130 U/mg LTTP, 630 U/mg VTTP, and 435 U/mg ATTP. The amino acid contents of the protein moieties of LTTP, ATTP, and VTTP were closely similar, but that of BTTP was significantly different. The Ouchterlony analysis showed that BTTP did not react at all with the antibody against VTTP, but that three other TTP's did and showed the reaction of complete identity. Then, the reactivity of 125-I-labeled TTP's with the anti-VTTP antibody was studied. The results showed that 0.79 +/- 0.01 (SD) % of [125I]BTTP, 10.24 +/- 0.5 (SD) % of [125I]LTTP, 19.4 +/- 0.2 (SD) % of [125I]VTTP, and 5.88 +/- 0.4 (SD) % of [125I]ATTP added were bound to the antibody in 2 h. Next, the molecular weight of each was determined by Sephadex G-200 filtration, which averaged 80,000 +/- 4,000 (SD) ([125I]BTTP), 113,000 +/- 5,000 (SD) ([125I]LTTP), 62,000 +/- 3,000 (SD) ([125I]ATTP), and 47,000 +/- 2,000 (SD) ([125I]VTTP). Finally, the plasma behavior of each was studied in four dogs. The plasma half-life averaged 8.1 +/- 0.24 (SD) h ([125I]BTTP), 14.6 +/- 0.5 (SD) h ([125I]LTTP), 7.38 +/- 0.48 (SD) h ([1252]ATTP), and 24.3 +/- 0.9 (SD) h ([125I]VTTP). These results indicate that the protein moieties of canine TTP's from brain, lung, arteries, and veins are closely similar in some aspects but dissimilar in others and are definitely not identical.

Immunologic enhancement of rat renal allografts. III. Immunopathologic lesions and rejection in long-surviving passively enhanced grafts

Immunologic enhancement of renal allografts from (Lewis times Brown Norway) F1 to Lewis rats was achieved by administering a single dose of antidonor serum at the time of transplantation. A series of grafts functioning for 1 to 4 months after transplantation were examined by light and immunofluorescence microscopy to evaluate the long-term protective effects of the enhancing serum and to determine if previously unobserved lesions appeared in long survivors. Despite the absence of detectable circulating cytotoxic alloantibody, long-term allografts showed necrotizing glomerular and arterial lesions which resembled those seen in acutely rejecting grafts and were compatible with humoral rejection. Thus, in this model, there is a late decline in the ability of passive enhancement to inhibit humoral rejection. Long-term grafts also developed tubular lesions with deposition of immunoglobulin and complement on the tubular basement membranes (TBM). Anti-TBM antibodies were demonstrated in recipients' sera and found to be organ specific but not major histocompatibility antigen or species specific. This tubular lesion is therefore a unique form of allograft injury in which the immune response is directed against tissue antigen(s) which are distinct from the major histocompatibility antigens that induce rejection.

Lymphocyte proliferation to artery antigen as a positive diagnostic test in polymyalgia rheumatica

The transformation response of peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro to human arterial and muscle antigen has been studied in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, and polyarteritis, and polyarteritis nodosa and in unrelated controls. Lymphocytes from patients with polymyalgia rheumatica showed transformation responses significantly higher to artery antigen than those in the other disease and control groups. The highest responses were found in patients with evidence of the most active clinical disease at the time of testing. It is suggested that the transformation response to arterial antigen might aid the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica.

Experimental induction of atheroarteriosclerosis by the synergy of allergic injury to arteries and lipid-rich diet. 3. The role of earlier acquired fibromuscular intimal thickening in the pathogenesis of later developing atherosclerosis

Clinicopathologic evidence suggests that diffuse intimal thickening, a type of arteriosclerosis without manifest lipid deposit, may predispose to later developing atherosclerosis in man. This hypothesis was tested in the following experiments. Injury to coronary arteries of rabbits was induced by immunologic means, and arterial lesions were allowed to heal for many weeks. One group of animals was then sacrificed, and in their coronary arteries were found numerous fibromuscular intimal lesions closely resembling diffuse intimal thickening in man. The remaining rabbits were fed a cholesterol-supplemented diet for 80 days and then sacrificed. Fibromuscular intimal lesions of coronary arteries were found in these rabbits also. However, approximately two-thirds of these lesions were found to contain lipid, and many closely resembled coronary atherosclerosis in man. Further analysis of the data indicates that the atherosclerotic lesions in the rabbits evolved from immunologically induced fibromuscular intimal lesions which later and preferentially accumulated lipid in the presence of hypercholesterolemia. Results of these experiments suggest that in man fibromuscular intimal lesions, and in particular diffuse intimal thickening, acquired earlier in life can later accumulate lipid preferentially and thus redispose to atherosclerosis.

Experimental induction of atheroarteriosclerosis by the synergy of allergic injury to arteries and lipid-rich diet. II. Effect of repeatedly injected foreign protein in rabbits fed a lipid-rich, cholesterol-poor diet

Rabbits fed a lipid-rich, cholesterol-poor diet and given concomitant injections of foreign protein, over a period as long as 17 months, developed in their coronary arteries both a) proliferative fibromuscular intimal thickening closely resembling the diffuse intimal thickening that commonly occurs in coronary arteries of man, and b) fatty-proliferative fibromuscular intimal thickening that closely resembles coronary atherosclerosis in man. In contrast, rabbits of another group that were concurrently fed the same diet for as long as 22 months without injections of foreign protein developed changes in arteries of their hearts that resemble neither coronary atherosclerosis nor diffuse intimal thickening in man. Fatty-proliferative changes in aortas of the first group of rabbits are strikingly greater and more closely resemble human aortic atherosclerosis than those in the latter group. In the course of the experiments, the average serum cholesterol was not significantly different in the two groups of rabbits. It was approximately 200 to 250 mg%, which is the average serum cholesterol in adult humans in the United States. These experiments support the hypothesis that the synergy of arterial injury, in particular immunologic injury, and a diet rich in lipid can lead to atherosclerosis in man.

Tropism of Mycoplasma gallisepticum for arterial walls

The fatal encephalopathy associated with M. gallisepticum strain S6 in turkey poults was completely curable by treatment with tylosin or pleuromutilin. The lesions of cerebral polyarteritis disappeared after therapy. Polyarthritis developed in some birds after recovery from encephalitis. Immunofluorescent studies revealed that intravenously injected organisms became localized as microcolonies within the walls of cerebral and periarticular arteries, and in the glomeruli. Turkey IgG deposition was demonstrated on the glomerular basement membranes, but not in the arterial lesions. The results suggest that the pathologic changes caused by this microorganism are due to selective localization and growth in arteries.