[Effects of sera from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on neural tissue in vivo and in vitro].

Sera from patients with lateral amyotrophic sclerosis (LAS) were discovered to produce a cytotoxic effect one hour after their intracerebral administration to experimental animals. Coons' test using serum against human gammaglobulins was used to detect their selective binding to separate cells of nervous tissue culture. The data obtained point out that LAS patients' serum contains different anticerebral antibodies whose presence may account for the cytotoxic effect of these sera on the ultrastructure of experimental animals' nervous tissue.