Autoantibodies in canine masticatory muscle myositis recognize a novel myosin binding protein-C family member.

Inflammatory myopathies are a group of autoimmune diseases that affect muscles. In humans, the most common inflammatory myopathies are polymyositis, dermatomyositis, and inclusion body myositis. Autoantibodies may be found in humans with inflammatory myopathies, and these play an important role in diagnosis and disease classification.

The effects of enrofloxacin on decorin and glycosaminoglycans in avian tendon cell cultures.

Tendonitis and tendon rupture have been reported to occur during or following therapy with fluoroquinolone antibiotics. Though the pathogenesis is unknown, several studies suggest that fluoroquinolone antibiotics alter proteoglycan content in soft tissues, including tendons, and thereby alter collagen fibrillogenesis. To better understand the mechanism of action of fluoroquinolones, we studied the effects of enrofloxacin, a widely used fluoroquinolone in veterinary medicine, on avian tendon cell cultures established from gastrocnemius tendons from 18-day-old chicken embryos.

Early cell-mediated immune responses to Marek's disease virus in two chicken lines with defined major histocompatibility complex antigens.

N2a and P2a chickens, resistant and susceptible to Marek's disease (MD), respectively, were used to examine relationships between major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer (NK)-like cell activity with resistance to infection with Marek's disease virus (MDV). Ten-day-old chickens were infected with MDV and euthanatized at selected times to evaluate for NK cell and MHC-restricted cytotoxicity. The N2a MDV-infected chickens had an early cell-mediated immune response characterized by a sustained NK-like cytotoxicity that coincided with a measurable MHC-cytotoxicity that was lower than controls.

Proteoglycans in chicken gastrocnemius tendons change with exercise.

Growth, loading, and mobilization lead to changes in tendon structure. Recent studies have shown that proteoglycans (PGs) regulate the organization of collagen fibrils, the main structural components of tendons. We hypothesized that moderate exercise alters PG synthesis in the avian gastrocnemius tendon.

Immunoblotting assays for keratan sulfate.

The detection of microquantities of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in biological samples has been hampered by the lack of sensitive methods. In this paper we describe the modification and development of three sensitive assays capable of detecting nanogram quantities of GAGs in biological samples. The first assay detects total GAGs.