Relationship between inflammation, bone destruction, and osteoproliferation in the HLA-B27/human β2 -microglobulin-transgenic rat model of spondylarthritis.

Objective: Inhibition of inflammation and destruction, but not of osteoproliferation, in patients with spondylarthritis (SpA) treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor raises the question of how these three processes are interrelated. This study was undertaken to analyze this relationship in a rat model of SpA.

Methods: Histologic spine and joint samples from HLA-B27/human β(2) -microglobulin (hβ(2) m)-transgenic rats were analyzed for signs of spondylitis and destructive arthritis and semiquantitatively scored as showing mild, moderate, or severe inflammation.

The clinical picture of rheumatoid arthritis according to the 2010 American College of Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism criteria: is this still the same disease?

Objective: To examine the implications of using the new classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in clinical practice in a cohort of patients with very early arthritis.

Methods: The study group comprised 301 disease-modifying antirheumatic drug-naive patients with early arthritis. The baseline diagnosis was assessed by applying the 1987 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) and 2010 ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) criteria for RA as well as established diagnostic criteria for other rheumatic diseases.

Sustained T cell Rap1 signaling is protective in the collagen-induced arthritis model of rheumatoid arthritis.

Objective: Defective activation of T cell receptor-proximal signaling proteins, such as the small GTPase Rap1, is thought to contribute to the pathologic behavior of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovial T cells. This study was undertaken to determine whether maintaining Rap1 signaling in murine T cells modifies disease onset or severity in collagen-induced arthritis (CIA).

Methods: CIA experiments were conducted using wild-type and RapV12-transgenic mice, which express an active mutant of Rap1 in the T cell compartment.

Ultrastructure of basement membranes of peritoneal capillaries in a chronic peritoneal infusion model in the rat.

Background: Long-term peritoneal dialysis with glucose- based dialysis solutions has been associated with diabetiform alterations of peritoneal tissue. A peritoneal infusion model in the rat was developed to study the effect of chronic infusion of a glucose-based dialysis solution and an isotonic non-glucose solution on the ultrastructure of the basement membranes of peritoneal capillaries. The effect of ageing was also studied in an untreated control group.