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Antineuronal antibodies in patients having myasthenia gravis

From the Departments of Neurology and Physiological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin Medical Center, Madison

SUMMARYThe gamma globulin fraction from the sera of normal individuals and from patients with myasthenia gravis, autoimmune thyroiditis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis were labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate. When sections of various organs, including nervous tissue, testis, kidney, liver, spleen, ovary, and muscle, were reacted with the fluorescein-labeled globulin obtained from patients with myasthenia gravis, an intense fluorescence was observed only in the nuclei of neurons and spermatogonia. This reaction was seen when tissue from various species, including man, was used. The labeled globulins obtained from normal individuals or from patients with the other disorders did not react in this manner with nervous tissue or testicular sections. When spinal ganglia from young animals were reacted with the fluorescein-labeled globulins from myasthenic patients, the resultant pattern of fluorescence was markedly different from that seen with tissue from mature animals. Thymectomy of two of the patients resulted in loss of the neuronal and spermatogonial reactivity of the labeled globulins. The relationship of these observations to the etiology of this disease is discussed.

Dr. Kornguth's address is Departments of Neurology and Physiological Chemistry, University of Wisconsin Medical Center, 1300 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53706.

This investigation was supported by grants NB 05631 and NB 05604 from the National Institutes of Health.

Presented in part at the Twenty-first Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, April 24, 1969

Submitted for publication Oct. 24, 1969; accepted Dec. 15, 1969.