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Absence of acetylcholine-induced current in epithelial cells from thymus glands and thymomas of myasthenia gravis patients

Abteilung für Allgemeine Physiologie (Mr. Siara and Dr. Rüdel) der Universität Ulm, Ulm, FRG, and the Pathologisches Institut (Dr. Marx) der Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, FRG.

We investigated the activity of ion channels in epithelial cells from human thymus glands and thymomas kept in short-term cell culture by clamping the membrane potential of the cells at –85 mV and determining the membrane current flowing on application of acetylcholine, glycine, or gamma-aminobutyric acid. In concentrations of up to 10^–3 M, none of the neurotransmitters induced any detectable current. This suggests (1) that there are no acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) or other products of the AChR gene family having ion-channel properties in the membranes of these epithelial cells, and (2) that the alpha-bungarotoxin-binding protein of thymus and thymoma has no AChR-like ion-channel property. These results support the hypothesis that the cross-reacting structures that elicit the anti-AChR autoimmune response in thymoma-associated myasthenia gravis are antigens having only limited homology with the AChR. Myasthenia gravis not associated with thymoma might have a different pathogenesis.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Prof. Dr. R. Rüdel, Abteilung für Allgemeine Physiologie der Universität Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-7900 Ulm, FRG.

Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ki 370/1-1 to A.M. and Ru 138/16).

Received February 22. 1990. Accepted for publication in final form June 18, 1990.

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