title: Effect of myasthenic patient sera on the number and distribution of acetylcholine receptors in muscle and nerve-muscle cultures from rat. Correlations with clinical state.
abstract: We studied the functional activities (FA) of sera obtained from 83 myasthenic patients on rat muscle cultures. Using the same sets of cultures, two parameters were evaluated after exposure to sera: residual fraction (RF) of acetylcholine receptors (AChR) coupled to 125I-labelled alpha-bungarotoxin (alpha Bgt) (81 sera) and the number of rhodamine labelled clusters (56 sera). Two types of culture were assayed: muscle alone and nerve-muscle cocultures (12 cases). In all combinations (fluorescence, radiolabelling, muscle alone and nerve-muscle cocultures), we found a significant correlation between FA and antibody (Ab) titre, and no correlation between FA and clinical severity: only sera with a high or intermediate Ab titre were effective, whatever the clinical severity of disease. With active sera, AChR loss was about 50% whereas the disappearance of AChR clusters was quite complete, which suggests AChR redistribution induced by MG sera.
authors.affiliation: CNRS UA 1159, Centre Chirurgical Marie-Lannelongue, Le Plessis-Robinson, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Eymard
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: de la Porte
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pannier
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berrih-Aknin
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fardeau
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Bach
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koenig
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009132:Muscles / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D009157:Myasthenia Gravis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D051381:Rats; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D011950:Receptors, Cholinergic