1. Characterization of a reproducible rat EAMG model induced with various human acetylcholine receptor domains
- Author
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Vassiliki Baltatzidi, Nikolaos Trakas, Konstantinos Lazaridis, Eleni Koutroumpi, Socrates J. Tzartos, and Nikolaos Karandreas
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,animal structures ,Immunology ,law.invention ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Antigen ,Protein Domains ,law ,Internal medicine ,Extracellular ,medicine ,Immunology and Allergy ,Animals ,Humans ,Receptors, Cholinergic ,Acetylcholine receptor ,biology ,Chemistry ,Antibody titer ,medicine.disease ,Molecular biology ,Myasthenia gravis ,Myasthenia Gravis, Autoimmune, Experimental ,Rats ,Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ,Disease Models, Animal ,Protein Subunits ,030104 developmental biology ,Endocrinology ,Neurology ,Rats, Inbred Lew ,biology.protein ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,Antibody ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Torpedo - Abstract
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is usually caused by antibodies against the muscle acetylcholine receptor (AChR). Experimental autoimmune MG (EAMG) is the animal model of MG, typically induced by immunization of rodents with AChR isolated from the electric organ of Torpedo californica. We have successfully induced EAMG in Lewis rats by immunization with the extracellular domains (ECDs) of the human AChR subunits (α, β, γ, δ and e) expressed in yeast. Analysis of the antibody titers revealed a robust antigenic response against all the peptides, but a marked difference in their pathogenicity; the α subunit ECD was the most pathogenic, resulting in the highest percentage of affected animals. Measurements of antibody titers, electromyographic tests and quantitation of the muscle AChR content, offered further support to these findings. The EAMG models presented herein, could be used for studying subunit-specific pathogenic mechanisms, and, more importantly, as tools for the evaluation of antigen-specific therapeutic approaches, which rely on the human AChR.
- Published
- 2016