Sex and autoantibody titers determine the development of neuropsychiatric manifestations in lupus-prone mice.
Emotional disturbances are among the most common neuropsychiatric manifestations of SLE, a systemic autoimmune disease with a strong female predominance. In this study, we evaluated young MRL/lpr mice, directly comparing males and females. MRL/lpr females exhibited significant depression as early as 5 weeks (at which time elevated levels of autoantibodies were already present), as compared to MRL/lpr males, where depression was noted only at 18 weeks. Depression was significantly correlated with autoantibodies against nuclear antigens, NMDA receptor, and ribosomal P. Our results are consistent with a primary role of autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of early neuropsychiatric deficits in this lupus model, which translate into gender-based differences in clinical phenotype.
Gao
Hua-Xin
HX
The Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Sanders
Elena
E
Tieng
Arlene Tan
AT
Putterman
Chaim
C
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001526:Behavioral Symptoms / Q000209:etiology*; D002308:Cardiolipins / Q000276:immunology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D020945:Lupus Vasculitis, Central Nervous System / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D019463:Mice, Inbred MRL lpr; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000276:immunology; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D013550:Swimming / Q000523:psychology
D001323:Autoantibodies; D002308:Cardiolipins; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate