Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Characterization of serum factors causing demyelination and swelling of myelin.

Serum factors in rabbits with white matter-induced experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (WM-EAE) were studied with respect to their role in demyelination in vitro in organotypic central nervous system (CNS) tissue cultures and in vivo in the myelinated retina of the rabbit eye. By absorption with staphylococcal protein A, IgG was quantitatively separated from the other serum proteins. No IgG was demonstrable in the absorbed IgG-depleted sera by Ouchterlony double diffusion, immunoelectrophoresis and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Chronic relapsing experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Immunohistochemical studies.

The immunohistochemical staining of immunoglobulins (Ig), complement (C3), and fibrinogen in chronic relapsing experimental allergic encephalomyelitis lesions showed different staining patterns in the acute vs the chronic stage of the disease. In the acute stage, Ig, C3, and fibrinogen were present in the perivascular tissue of the brain and the spinal cord. In hyperacute-type lesions, the binding of Ig and C3 to the parenchyma was especially pronounced.

Multiple sclerosis: serum gamma globulin and demyelination in organ culture.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) sera frequently demyelinate organotypic central nervous system (CNS) tissue cultures. To elucidate the possible role of gamma globulins in this form of experimental demyelination we depleted MS sera of all gamma globulins by immunoabsorption and then compared their demyelinating activity with that of the unabsorbed sera. In only 2 out of 16 patients was some demyelinating activity detected in the gamma globulin fraction.

Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangles: antiserum and immunohistological staining.

A 50,000-dalton polypeptide has been purified from fractions enriched with neurofibrillary tangles of paired helical filaments from human autopsy specimens of Alzheimer disease and senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. An antiserum to this polypeptide was raised in a rabbit. This antiserum formed an immunoprecipitation line with the purified antigen and with human neurotubules in ouchterlony double-diffusion plates.

Evidence that Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangles originate from neurotubules.

Antiserum against normal human neurotubules purified by in-vitro assembly precipitated both neurotubules and a polypeptide isolated from Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangles in Ouchterlony double-diffusion tests. The antiserum specifically labelled neurofibrillary tangles, in isolated neurons by immunofluorescence and in tissue sections by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase technique. These results indicate that neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease probably originate from neurotubules.

Multiple sclerosis: immunochemical studies on the demyelinating serum factor.

Sera from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) frequently produce demyelination of central nervous system tissue cultures. The nature of the factors responsible for demyelination is not as yet clearly established. However, several authors previously reported, in in vivo and in vitro models, demyelinating activity in IgG fractions isolated from sera and cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients14,42,48.

Chemical relationship of the paired helical filaments of Alzheimer's dementia to normal human neurofilaments and neurotubules.

Intraneuronal fibrillary tangles are prominent features of several neurological diseases, including especially Alzheimer presenile and senile dementia, and to a much lesser degree in the normal aged human brain. These tangles are made up of abnormal fibrillar elements each about 22 nm at its widest, periodically reduced to 10 nm at about every 80 nm. Each abnormal fiber seems to be a pair of 10 nm filaments helically wound around each other.

Chemical pathology of neurofibrils. Neurofibrillary tangles of Alzheimer's presenile-senile dementia.

A subcellular fraction enriched in twisted tubules was obtained by differential centrifugation of a homogenate of neurons isolated from areas of the brain with many neurofibrillary tangles from patients with Alzheimer's presenile-senile dementia. A unique protein (molecular weight 50,000 daltons) which does not co-migrate with either of the two tubulin monomers of the major neurofilament protein, both purified from human brain, was found in this subcellular fraction on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Similarly processed tissue from areas of the brain poor in neurofibrillary tangles contained low levels of this new protein.

Cell surface immunoglobulin. VII. Synthesis, shedding, and secretion of immunoglobulin by lymphoid cells of germ-free mice.

Lymphoid cells from the spleen, lymph nodes, and thoracic duct of axenic and control mice were incubated with [(3)H]tyrosine and synthesis and secretion of protein and Ig studied. It was found that only IgM was synthesized by cells from axenic mice whereas cells from control mice also synthesized IgG. Splenocytes from both axenic and control mice had 8S IgM on their surface.