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Biomedical subjects

J A Killen

Publications and source records attributed to J A Killen.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Suppression of clinical weakness in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis associated with weight changes, and post-decapitation convulsions after intracisternal-ventricular administration of 6-hydroxydopamine.

Selective depletion of central nervous system norepinephrine (NE) by the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) in rats subsequently inoculated with myelin basic protein (MBP) and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) produced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) without the usual expected degree of weakness. The preservation of strength occurred in spite of continued weight loss. Post-decapitation myoclonic convulsive kick latency and kick number, which are known to depend on spinal cord NE, agreed well with the degree of weakness through the clinical disease course. The only difference between EAE groups was that the stronger 6-OHDA pretreated EAE animals did not have an elevated pons-medulla NE compared to saline intracisternal-ventricular (i.c.v.) pretreated controls. We conclude that 6-OHDA can influence the clinical course of weakness by interfering with central noradrenergic activity independent of other features associated with disease in EAE. This effect of 6-OHDA may be exerted through alteration of the blood-spinal cord barrier function and/or central nervous system blood flow.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Central catecholamine neurotoxin administration. 1. Immunological changes associated with the suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Central nervous system (CNS) depletion of norepinephrine (NE) using 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) prior to disease induction suppressed the clinical signs of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). This treatment did not have an effect on the degree of mononuclear cell infiltration when spinal cord sections were examined and stained with hematoxylin and eosin, nor on serum levels of anti-myelin basic protein antibodies. However, investigation of the subpopulations of lymphoid cells within the perivascular lesions showed an increase in cells bearing the T suppressor cell phenotype, OX8+, in the 6-OHDA-treated EAE rats when compared to saline-control-treated EAE rats. Examination of other cellular subsets showed no differences in the numbers of T helper cells, macrophages, or B cells within the lesions of the two groups. Furthermore, histofluorescent estimation of catecholamines in spinal cord sections from 6-OHDA- and saline-control-treated EAE rats demonstrated that catecholamines were indeed depleted in the rats with suppressed clinical EAE. These findings suggest that 6-OHDA depletion of CNS NE may remove an effector amplification mechanism, or trigger a T suppressor cell mechanism, or both, leading to suppression of the effector phase of EAE, clinical paralysis.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

The main immunogenic region of acetylcholine receptors does not provoke the formation of antibodies of a predominant idiotype.

Anti-idiotype antibodies were induced in rats by immunization with rat monoclonal antibodies to the main immunogenic region of acetylcholine receptors. These anti-idiotype antibodies showed very little crossreaction with other rat monoclonal antibodies which bind to the same region of the receptor. When the rats producing these anti-idiotype antibodies were immunized with receptor, they showed no net decrease in anti-receptor antibody production. These data indicate that, although more than half of the antibodies produced by rats immunized with receptor are directed at a small region, many anti-receptor idiotypes are involved in this response and anti-idiotype therapy is not beneficial.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Specific killing of lymphocytes that cause experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis by ricin toxin-acetylcholine receptor conjugates.

Experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) is an autoimmune disease in which antibodies to acetylcholine receptor (AChR) cause loss of AChR from muscle, thereby impairing neuromuscular transmission. Here we report the use of a hybrid molecule that contains ricin toxin, irreversibly coupled to AChR to specifically suppress the immune response to AChR in vitro. Lymph node cell cultures from rats with EAMG pretreated with ricin toxin-AChR conjugates exhibited suppressed T helper cell proliferation and B cell antibody synthesis in response to the subsequent addition of AChR. Nonspecific toxicity of the conjugates was measured by suppression of the T cell proliferative response to the mitogen concanavalin A and the antigen keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), and B cell antibody production to KLH. We have evaluated different pretreatment conditions and ricin toxin covalently coupled to AChR in different molar ratios to optimize specific immunosuppression. By varying the number of ricin molecules covalently bound to AChR in the immunotoxin, we were able to minimize the nonspecific toxicity while still maintaining specific killing of AChR-reactive lymphocytes. Furthermore, B cells were more susceptible to specific killing than were the T cells. The specific immunosuppression was potentiated by performing the pretreatment with immunotoxin in the presence of chloroquine. Chloroquine raises lysosomal pH and probably delays the degradation of immunotoxin in the cell. It should be noted that ricin toxin was covalently coupled to AChR by using a novel, non-reducible reaction. These in vitro results suggest that it may be feasible to use immunotoxin molecules to specifically suppress this autoimmune response in vivo.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed1982

Regulation of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis. Part 4. Further characterization of postrecovery suppressor cells.

Suppressor cells that regulate experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) are present in lymph nodes of Lewis rats that have recovered from the disease, as demonstrated by adoptive transfer of suppression for at least 108 days following challenge of donor rats with myelin basic protein (BP) in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). These suppressor lymph node cells (LNC) inhibit the occurrence of active, but not passive EAE in recipients, suggesting that they function early in the inductive phase of the response to BP. The suppressor cells are nylon-adherent, and suppression can be partially abrogated by depletion of B cells with anti-immunoglobulin (ig) and complement (C). Serum from recovered donors has, at best, only a modest suppressive effect when transfused into syngeneic recipients. These findings suggest that the B cells do not mediate suppression on EAE via production of blocking antibody, but may function directly, perhaps by triggering T cells to become suppressor cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Helix pomatia receptors on rat T lymphocytes and bone marrow cells.

Helix pomatia (HP) receptors are present on approximately 60 percent of neuraminidase (NANAase)-treated rat T lymphocytes. The HP+ spleen cells (SpC) can be separated from HP-, immunoglobulin-bearing (Ig+) cells by affinity chromatography. The HP+ SpC mediate the local graft-versus-host reaction (GVHR). Less than 1% of rat lymphocytes bear both HP and Ig markers. Approximately 25% of Lewis rat bone marrow cells are HP+ (only 1% are HP+ Ig+), suggesting that the HP receptor may be a differentiation marker.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Autoimmune effector cells. III. Role of adjuvant and accessory cells in the in vitro induction of autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

The present investigation shows that autoreactive effector cells that transfer experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) can be activated from spleens and lymph nodes of Lewis rats given a single injection of 25 micrograms myelin basic protein (BP) in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA), despite the fact that the cell donors do not develop EAE. Rather, these donor rats are unresponsive to EAE when given an encephalitogenic emulsion of BP in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Lymphoid cells from rats given a single injection of BP-IFA were almost as effective as cells from BP-CFA-treated rats with respect to transferring EAE after in vitro activation with BP or concanavalin A (Con A). Irrespective of whether donors received BP in IFA or CFA, BP-cultured spleen and lymph node cells (SpC and LNC, respectively) transferred EAE, whereas Con A-cultured SpC but not LNC exhibited effector cell activity. Con A-cultured LNC were able to transfer EAE if the cultures were reconstituted with irradiated adherent phagocytic cells (which could be obtained from normal Lewis rat spleens) or with conditioned medium from these adherent SpC. These findings indicate that accessory cells are required for in vitro induction of this T cell-mediated autoimmune response.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗