Myasthenic immunoglobulin accelerates acetylcholine receptor degradation.
Degradation of acetylcholine receptors by cultured rat skeletal muscle cells was determined from the release of 125I from bound 125I-labeled alpha-bungarotoxin. Addition of immunoglobulin from patients with myasthenia gravis to the culture medium accelerated the degradation rate to a mean of 8.51 +/- 0.44 percent per hour, compared with the mean control rate of 3.97 +/- 0.14 percent per hour (P less than .001). A similar mechanism may possibly be involved in the autoimmune pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis in man.
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000937:Antigen-Antibody Reactions; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000502:physiology*; D007700:Kinetics; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D009132:Muscles / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000378:metabolism*; D013696:Temperature
D007136:Immunoglobulins; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic; D000109:Acetylcholine