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Biomedical subjects

S Le Maho

Publications and source records attributed to S Le Maho.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Glycosidase activities in alveolar macrophages from guinea pigs stimulated with a glyco-proteic complex extracted from Klebsiella pneumoniae.

An increased resistance of laboratory animals to pulmonary infections following per os administration of a glyco-proteic complex extracted from Klebsiella pneumoniae has been reported. This was associated with an increased phagocytic capacity of alveolar macrophages (AM). In this report, the effect of treating guinea pigs with this extract on the alveolar macrophage (AM) glycosidase machinery has been studied. AM were collected by bronchoalveolar lavage, the cells were pelleted by centrifugation and AM were purified by adherence on plastic dishes. Sialidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-glucuronidase and N-acetyl-beta-D glucosaminidase activities were measured in the AM homogenate. In order to evaluate an extracellular release of these enzymes, they were also assayed in the cell free lavage fluid. Lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was assayed as a control for cell lysis. In treated animals, the total number of cells as well as the number of AM increased by 25% (ns). The protein concentration was slightly reduced in the cell homogenate and unchanged in the lavage fluid. The only significant change was a decreased sialidase activity, in AM homogenate (p less than or equal to 0.01) and in lavage fluids (ns). The LDH activity was not increased in the lavage fluids.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

Sialidase activity and antibodies to sialidase-treated autologous erythrocytes in bronchoalveolar lavages from patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis or sarcoidosis.

Sialidases catalyse the hydrolysis of terminal sialic acid of the carbohydrate moiety of glycoconjugates. Sialic acids play a key role in the expression or masking of antigenic sites and in cell-cell interactions. As an example, removal of sialic acid from the human erythrocyte membrane unmasks underlying molecules such as the specific carbohydrates (Gal-GalNac) of the so-called T or Thomsen-Friedenreich cryptic antigen. A consequence of this, is the recognition of that antigen by natural serum antibodies. Since the T antigen has been shown to be present in the lung, we have investigated the possible presence of sialidase and of specific antibodies to sialidase-treated cells in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) from patients with pulmonary sarcoidosis or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). By using a fluorogenic substrate (4-methyl umbelliferyl-alpha-D-N-acetyl sodium neuraminate), we were able to detect a sialidase activity in BALF from eight out of nine patients with IPF and from ten out of thirty-five patients with sarcoidosis. BALF from normal volunteers and serum from both patients and normal volunteers were devoid of activity. BALF sialidase has an optimum pH activity of 5.4, it is not inhibited by EDTA and has a molecular weight close to 21 kD. BALF anti-T antibodies (galactose specific) were detectable in minute amounts in only one out of the nine normal volunteers. By contrast, they were frequently present in BALF from sarcoidosis (77%) or IPF (66%) patients and sarcoidosis patients had a higher mean activity. No correlation was observed between the enzymatic and antibody activities.

Adult↗

Differences in carbohydrate specificities and complement-activating capacity of guinea pig and human antibodies to neuraminidase-treated autologous erythrocytes.

Guinea pig erythrocytes desialated by treatment with neuraminidase from Vibrio cholerae were lyzed in autologous serum through a natural-antibody-dependent activation of the classical complement pathway. Lysis was inhibited when a mannose, glucose, galactose or N-acetyl-glucosamine was added to the incubation mixture. Methyl-alpha- or -beta-D-galactopyranosides were poorly effective and N-acetyl-D-galactosamine was not effective at all. Inhibition of lysis by the carbohydrates was due neither to an anti-complementary effect nor to a modification of the osmotic pressure since: (a) they did not alter the total complement haemolytic activity of guinea pig serum, and (b) they did not inhibit lysis of desialated guinea pig erythrocytes in human serum through activation of the alternative complement pathway. The presence of mannose, glucose, galactose or N-acetyl-glucosamine in the incubation mixture resulted in an impaired fixation of natural auto-antibodies on antigenic sites, namely the T-antigen (Thomsen-Friedenreich), which were unmasked following membrane sialic acid removal. When tested under the same conditions, only small percentage of the normal human population showed the phenomenon of lysis of desialated erythrocytes in autologous serum. Lysis was not due to a particular susceptibility of erythrocytes from these individuals to complement-mediated lysis but to the presence in their serum of complement-activating anti-T antibodies. As expected, the activity of human anti-T antibodies was inhibited by galactose and N-acetyl-galactosamine, which are the immunodominant sugars of the human T-antigen. Mannose and glucose had no effect, and methyl- alpha- or - beta-D-galactopyranosides were almost as effective as galactose. The heterogeneity of the human population with regard to the complement-activating capacity of anti-T antibodies could be of significance for the individual response of the host to an infection by a neuraminidase-producing microorganism. That the immunodominant sugars of the T-antigen were different between humans and guinea pigs was further assessed by absorption experiments. We have demonstrated that guinea pig anti-T antibodies were not removed during contact with desialated human red cells which do not have the mannose specificity, whereas human antibodies were almost entirely retained on desialated guinea pig red cells which, beside mannose, express galactose. These results also suggest that guinea pig antibodies are mostly directed towards mannose and glucose.

Agglutination Tests↗

Early cellular and biochemical alveolar responses following intra-tracheal inoculation with low dose of asbestos and quartz.

The study of broncho-alveolar lavage harvested from rats intratracheally dusted with chrysotile (0.5 mg), leached chrysotile (0.5 mg), crocidolite (0.5 mg) and quartz (0.5 and 5 mg) indicated: 1. A cytotoxic lysis of alveolar macrophages in relation to phagocytosis of dust particles in the following decreasing order: quartz, crocidolite, chrysotile. 2. Regarding cell intensity and duration while asbestos, even leached chrysotile, gave merely an early and transient response. This cell recruitment concerned mostly PMN leukocytes and at a less extent alveolar macrophage. 3. Cell recruitment was associated with an increased protein and phospholipids alveolar content. The increase of proteins came probably mostly from an inflammatory serum exudation. However, an increase synthesis of complement C3 and phospholipids is not excluded.

Animals↗

Auto-antibody dependent activation of the autologous classical complement pathway by guinea-pig red cells treated with influenza virus or neuraminidase: in vitro and in vivo study.

Guinea-pig erythrocytes that had been exposed to influenza A virus or Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase activated the classical complement pathway in autologous serum. Because all viral particles were eluted from the treated cells, activation was not dependent on anti-viral antibodies or on the particles themselves. After a threshold of 45-55% desialation, had been reached, the relative capacity of treated cells to activate complement increased very rapidly with desialation. Desialation unmasked sites on which natural auto-antibodies of the IgM class were fixed. Antibody fixation on the membrane led to C3b deposition on the cell membrane and activation of the classical complement sequence then cell lysis. The relevance of in vitro lysis of desialated cells to in vivo clearance of these cells is not certain because C4-deficient guinea-pigs were able to eliminate desialated cells from the blood stream as efficiently as did normal guinea-pigs. Nevertheless, membrane desialation occurring during myxovirus infection could lead to autoimmunity and tissue changes, as well as to recovery by eliminating virus-modified cells.

Animals↗