Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to chicken thiamin carrier protein (TCP) have been produced by hybridoma technology to identify the crucial epitopes involved in bioneutralization of the vitamin carrier. The monoclonality of these mAbs (A4C4, F3H6, H8H3, C8C1 and G7H10) was sought to be confirmed by sub-class isotyping; they all belong to ...

Active immunization with chicken egg white thiamin carrier protein (TCP) was performed to assess the functional importance of the vitamin carrier during gestation in rats. Towards this, fertile female rats were immunized with heterologous TCP and when the circulatory titres of anti-TCP IgG were high, these animals were mated with ...

To investigate the pathological differences between spontaneously developed and chemically induced liver cancers in LEC rats with hereditary hepatitis, eight-week-old LEC rats were fed 0.06% or 0.03% of 3'-methyl-4-dimethylaminoazobenzene (3'-Me-DAB) for 12 weeks, and then fed basal diet. Spontaneous liver cancers occurred in 60.4% of the LEC rats, while 3'-Me-DAB ...

Pneumocystis carinii is an important opportunistic pulmonary pathogen that causing pneumonia in premature infants, children with immunodeficiency diseases and patients of all ages receiving immunosuppressive agents. In this work, humoral immune responses to this organism were studied, using IFAT during the period of infection and recovery of immunosuppressed and malnourished ...

Acupuncture stimulation of the anterior tibial muscle, which is equivalent to Tsu-sanli point (S36) stimulation and which induces acupuncture analgesia, enhanced YAC-1 cell lytic activity of the splenic natural killer cells (NK activity) from pentobarbital anaesthetized Wistar rats. On the other hand, abdominal muscle stimulation, which does not induce acupuncture ...

Diurnal variations in lymph node ornithine decarboxylase activity were examined in submaxillary lymph nodes of rats injected with Freund's complete adjuvant or its vehicle. After immunization, lymph node ornithine decarboxylase activity increased by about 10-fold. Both in immunized and non-immunized rats, a significant diurnal variation in ornithine decarboxylase activity was ...

Worm expulsion of, and IgE and interferon (IFN)-gamma responses to, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis were studied in 2 rat strains, Brown Norway (BN) and Fischer (F)-344. BN rats expelled the majority of worms by day 14 post-infection (p.i.) with approximately 6% of worms surviving for at least 3 weeks. In F-344 rats, ...

The neu proto-oncogene encodes a plasma membrane protein belonging to the epidermal growth factor receptor family. The cell line B104, derived from BDIX rat neuroblastoma, carries a point mutation in neu, and forms a tumor when injected into these rats. The human homologue of the neu oncogene (here called HER2) ...

The immunotoxic potential of many classes of environmental contaminants has been well established in laboratory studies, with much attention being focussed on aryl hydrocarbon (Ah)-receptor binding polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD), and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) congeners. In a semi-field study, we previously showed that harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) fed ...

The effect of FK506 (tacrolims hydrate), an immunosuppressive agent produced by Streptomyces tsukubaensis, on crescentic-type anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis in rats was investigated. When rats were treated with FK506 from 1 or 20 days after the anti-GBM serum injection, FK506 inhibited the increase in urinary protein excretion. Histological observation ...

Administration of low doses of mercury induces autoantibodies to laminin and autoimmune glomerulonephropathy in BN, MAXX and DZB rats as well as in (BN x LEW)F1 hybrids. LEW strain rats are resistant to these immunotoxic effects. Susceptible rats also show lymphoid hyperplasia in spleen and lymph nodes and severe thymic ...

A subset of patients with rheumatoid arthritis occasionally develops skin reactions and glomerulonephritis and exhibits an increase in serum IgE concentration when treated with gold salts. Brown-Norway (BN) rats injected with aurothiopropanolsulfonate (ATPS) also manifest an autoimmune glomerulonephritis and increased serum IgE concentration, whereas Lewis (LEW) rats are resistant to ...

Effects of butein on crescentic-type anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis in rats were investigated. When rats were treated with butein from 1 day after i.v. injection of anti-GBM serum, it inhibited the elevation of protein excretion into urine. In the butein-treated rats, cholesterol content in plasma was lower than that ...

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is a model for multiple sclerosis (MS). However, MS is a chronic, relapsing and demyelinating disease, whereas EAE in rats is typically a brief and monophasic disorder showing little demyelination. We demonstrate here that DA rats develop severe, protracted and relapsing EAE (SPR-EAE) after a subcutaneous ...

Podocyte injury is believed to contribute to glomerulosclerosis in membranous nephropathy. To identify the factors involved, we investigated the effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), a cytokine produced by podocytes, on rats with membranous nephropathy (passive Heymann nephritis [PHN]). All rats received a daily i.v. bolus of 10 microg ...

We examined the changes in the levels of soluble major histocompatibility antigen complex (MHC) class I antigens in the serum under a lethal or nonlethal state of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) induced by injecting various doses of PVG rat splenic lymphocytes into (DA x PVG)F1 rats. All rats receiving 4 x 10(8) ...

Rat MHC class I cDNA (e.g. RT1.A1) can be expressed optimally as a heterodimer consisting of the rat heavy chain and the human beta2-microglobulin in the human B lymphoblastoid cell line Hmy 2 CIR, which offers several advantages. Gene expression was detected by flow cytometry using anti-human beta2-microglobulin and anti-rat ...

The subject of our investigation was the effect of bilateral damage to the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) on the cellular immune response (CIR), assessed by measuring the diameter of skin infiltration (DSI) 24 and 48 h after intradermal administration of tuberculin in adult male Wistar rats, previously immunized with BCG ...

We investigated the presence of the carbohydrate ligand for E-selectin on the cell surface of rat polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN). Rat PMN, isolated from peripheral blood, adhered to recombinant rat E-selectin-coated microplates. The adhesion was inhibited either by an anti-rat E-selectin monoclonal antibody (MAb), a sialyl Lewis X (SLex) oligosaccharide or ...

In a rat model of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection mimicking cystic fibrosis (CF) we studied whether the inflammatory response could be altered by vaccination. Rats were immunized with either a depolymerized alginate toxin A conjugate (D-ALG toxin A), purified alginate, an O-polysaccharide toxin A conjugate, or sterile saline. After ...

Starvation is well known to induce immune suppression. Moreover, the concentration of 2-B4O, an endogenous sugar acid, is elevated in the circulation during starvation. To determine if these events are related, the influence of 2-B4O on experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) in Lewis rats, a model of human multiple sclerosis (MS), ...

This study sought to clarify the responsible chemotactic factor for neutrophils in allergic inflammation in rats. When the leukocytes collected from the pouch fluid 4 h after injection of the antigen solution into the air pouch were incubated, the neutrophil chemotactic activity in the conditioned medium increased time-dependently with higher ...

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) was used to treat hyperacute, ordinary passive, and hyperacute passive experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in the Lewis rat. The anti-oxidant, delivered via mini-osmotic pumps, reduced the incidence, severity and mortality in hyperacute EAE and also reduced the incidence, severity and duration of disease in passively induced EAE ...

The influence of protein deficiency was evaluated on immune responsiveness after subchronic DDT exposure in albino rats. Rats were given 20%, 12% and 3% protein diets and exposed to DDT (20, 50 or 100 ppm) for 4 weeks. DDT (50 and 100 ppm) induced humoral and cellular immune suppression only ...

BACKGROUND: Despite multimodality approaches, pleural-based malignant mesothelioma remains a disease with a very poor prognosis. Novel therapeutic strategies such as gene therapy clearly are needed to improve the survival of patients with this neoplasm. To aid in the evaluation of new treatment strategies, animal models that closely mimic human disease ...

We previously showed that relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (R-EAE) in BUF rats, a model for multiple sclerosis, responds favorably to treatment with TBI and syngeneic BMT. Relapses of paresis occurred less frequently than in untreated controls, but were not completely prevented. Therefore, we investigated the effect of allogeneic BMT from ...

During infection, Cryptococcus neoformans capsular glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) is released into tissues, where it may be associated with a variety of deleterious immunological effects. Relatively little is known about the organ distribution and cellular localization of GXM antigen. Intravenous administration of GXM to rats resulted in persistent serum levels which declined ...

Bystander suppression of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and the antibody response to human serum albumin (HSA) were studied in young normal rats and in young rats made partially tolerant to ovalbumin (OVA) by feeding an OVA-containing diet for 4 weeks from weaning. At 2 months of age, the animals were intracutaneously ...

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), induced in Lewis rats by injection of myelin basic protein (MBP) and adjuvant, is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease. Earlier studies from our laboratory have shown that oral administration of guinea pig MBP before encephalitogenic challenge induces T cell anergy and results in the suppression of ...

BACKGROUND: Within the glomerular extracellular matrix, the glomerular basement membrane and the mesangial matrix have different compositions, presumably related to their different functions. In this study, a novel mesangial matrix protein is recognized by mAb ED5 and KiM4R, which were originally selected for reactivity with follicular dendritic cells of rat ...

We examined the suitability of an immunoaffinity membrane [rabbit IgG specific for rat immunoglobulin E (IgE) immobilized on a cellulose membrane] for removing IgE from rat blood passed through a simple extracorporeal circulatory system. To determine the concentration of IgE in the blood, we also developed a highly sensitive chemiluminescence ...

This study was undertaken to investigate and compare in vitro and in vivo immune parameters between female and male rats. We analysed the T-cell proliferative responses to syngeneic and allogeneic cellular antigens (syngeneic and allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reaction), as well as the IgG levels in the sera of our study ...

Chronic relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a demyelinating disease induced by injection of central nervous system (CNS) tissue, is widely used as a model for multiple sclerosis. However, it is unclear which Ag or combination of Ags in the CNS induce the demyelinating immune response. We now show in Lewis rats ...

This study describes the development of a sandwich enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) for rat soluble IL-2 receptors (sIL-2R) using a combination of monoclonal antibodies reactive with different epitopes on the rat IL-2R. Coating plates with NDS61 and NDS64 monoclonal antibodies produced similar dose-response curves when incubated with a standard sIL-2R preparation ...

Porcine cardiac myosin induced severe myocarditis in Lewis rats, similar to that seen after immunization with human or rat cardiac myosin. We investigated the localization of pathogenic epitopes by using porcine cardiac myosin. Subfragment-1 (S-1) and the rod were obtained by alpha-chymotryptic digestion. The rod was further fragmented by using ...

The study was done to find out whether subacute exposure to supercypermethrin forte (SCM) affected cellular and humoral immunity. Groups of 10 male Wistar rats were given SCM by gavage for 28 days at 12.5 mg kg-1 day-1 (1/14 LD50), 8.75 mg kg-1 day-1 (1/20 LD50) and 4.38 mg kg-1 ...

Recently we have shown that the generation of IFN-gamma-producing cells (IFN-gamma pc) were severely suppressed in cultures of Con A-stimulated splenocytes obtained from HgCl2-exposed BN but not Lewis rats. Since BN rats develop a TH2-biased polyclonal autoimmune syndrome upon exposure to HgCl2, whereas Lewis rats exhibit a resistant phenotype, possibly ...

Immunization of female rats with encephalitogen before gestation, during gestation, and during lactation differentially decreased susceptibility to experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) in their offspring. The most pronounced suppression, revealed by lowered incidence and weaker clinical signs of the disease, was observed in offspring of mothers immunized before gestation and during ...

In order to examine the dose-dependence of the airway response to animal allergens we performed environmental challenges on 17 workers with documented IgE-mediated allergic reactions to laboratory rats. The 1-h environmental challenges were conducted in a vivarium during cage cleaning (high-allergen challenge), quiet sitting (low-allergen challenge), or in a remote ...

Antisperm autoantibodies were studied in Fischer and Lewis strains of rats after either vasectomy, vasectomy followed one month later by vasovasostomy, or sham operations. The time course of antibody response to sperm protein autoantigens was assayed by Western blot analysis of sera obtained at intervals up to 3 months. Rats ...

The Goodpasture's epitope has been mapped to the alpha 3 non-collagenous chain (NC1) of type (IV) collagen [alpha 3col(IV)]. We have developed a model of experimental autoimmune glomerulonephritis (EAG) in rats immunized once with collagenase solubilized GBM (csGBM). Engelbreth-Holm-Swarm (EHS) tumor contains abundant col(IV) with little or no alpha 3col(IV). ...

It is known that the susceptibility to experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) is controlled by both major histocompatibility antigen complex (MHC) and non-MHC genes. In this report, we studied the role of non-MHC genes in the induction of EAU. LEW, WKAH, (LEW x WKAH)F1, and (LEW x WKAH)F2 rats were examined ...

Antibody titer to acetylcholine receptor (AChR Ab) was measured in 34 patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) using an immunoprecipitation method with human and rat AChR as antigens, to study the reliability of these assay systems and the cross-reactivity between human and rat AChR. There was a good correlation in the ...

Monoclonal autoantibodies were obtained from Lewis rats with active Heymann nephritis. Two cloned rat/mouse hybridomas, 3D9B and 5B8C, that secreted rat IgG2a autoantibodies were selected for their ability to react with gp330 in ELISA and propagated further. Their specificity was confirmed by immunoprecipitation of crude antigens from a yolk sac ...

Acyl glucuronide metabolites of carboxylic acid drugs such as the salicylate derivative diflunisal (DF) have been shown to react with proteins in vitro and in vivo to produce covalent adducts. Such attachment of foreign compounds to endogenous molecules could be associated with toxic and/or immune consequences. In this study we ...

Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) is generally accepted to be an immunosuppressant produced by cancer cells and their surrounding macrophages. Although several investigators have reported detecting high concentrations of PGE2 in the portal veins of patients with colorectal cancer, the relationship between these high concentrations of PGE2 in the portal vein and ...

In this article, we investigated changes of immune functions and immunoregulatory effects of indomethacin on rats with trauma. The results show that spontaneous suppressor T cell activity of spleen significantly increased and Interleukin I production and DNA synthesis capacity of splenocytes markedly decreased in rats with trauma. Indomethacin could markedly ...

Successful induction of the experimental autoimmune disease allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) depends, in part, upon species susceptibility. The Lewis rat is highly susceptible to EAE whereas the Brown Norway (BN) strain is resistant to induction. Endogenous glucocorticoids influence the manifestation of the disease and recovery from neurological deficits. Moreover, abrogation of ...

Glucocorticoid feedback during inflammation depends on several factors, including effective corticosteroid concentrations, the temporal coordination between the immune system and the HPAA, and sensitivity of the target organ to corticosteroids. In the case of LEW/N rats, several lines of evidence indicate that CRH is aberrantly regulated, and as a consequence, ...

Experimental autoimmune uveoretinitis (EAU) is an intraocular inflammatory disease model induced by retinal specific antigens such as S-antigen and interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP). The present study was aimed at testing the uveitogenicity of IRBP and an IRBP-derived peptide in various strains of rats with different RT1 (major histocompatibility complex in ...