1985 Volume 34 Issue 2 Pages 595-599
The present experiments were aimed to investigate the pathogenesis of collagen arthritis more fully using the passive transfer system.
In this work, we intended to dissect some of the immunopathologic reactions by producing collagen arthritis by passive transfer of a serum concentrate from immurized donors to the rats in that antigen-specific suppression was achieved by pharmacologic manipulation. We provide evidence that collagen arthritis can be passively transferred with a serum concentrate to immunologically naive recipients as well as Cyclosporin-treated, type II collagen tolerant rats. In addition, significant enhancement and a longer duration of the passively tmansferred arthritis are induced if cyclosporin is being given continuously. The results of the present experiments indicate that collagen arthritis can be inducible by humoral immunity alone.
The results also suggest that a cellular suppressor system, sensitive to cyclosporin, might participate in the regulation of arthritis, once initiated.
