title: Serum from Sydenham's chorea patients modifies intracellular calcium levels in PC12 cells by a complement-independent mechanism.
abstract: The proposed pathogenesis of Sydenham's chorea (SC) is an autoantibody-mediated basal ganglia dysfunction. Our study has shown that incubation of PC12 cells with complement-inactivated serum from SC patients was associated with a significant increase in Ca2+ levels evoked by KCl stimulus (mean +/- SEM, 341.0 +/- 8.7% of fluorescence intensity, arbitrary units) when compared with incubation with control serum (313.8 +/- 8.7% of fluorescence intensity, arbitrary units; P = 0.01). The increase in Ca2+ levels determined by SC patients sera correlated directly with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay optical density values for anti-basal ganglia antibodies. Our study supports the hypothesis that antibodies against basal ganglia in SC may cause their dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Movement Disorders Clinic, Hospital das Clínicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Antonio L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Teixeira
authors.forename: Melissa M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Marco Aurélio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Romano-Silva
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000494:pharmacology; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000276:immunology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D002648:Child; D002819:Chorea / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D003165:Complement System Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007424:Intracellular Fluid / Q000378:metabolism*; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000379:methods; D016716:PC12 Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D011189:Potassium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D051381:Rats; D044967:Serum / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D011189:Potassium Chloride; D003165:Complement System Proteins; D002118:Calcium