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Inflammatory infiltrates in sural nerve biopsies in Guillain‐Barré syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating neuropathy
Author(s) -
Schmidt Beate,
Toyka Klaus V.,
Kiefer Reinhard,
Full Jens,
Hartung HansPeter,
Pollard John
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
muscle and nerve
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.025
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1097-4598
pISSN - 0148-639X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4598(199604)19:4<474::aid-mus8>3.0.co;2-9
Subject(s) - chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy , medicine , sural nerve , guillain barre syndrome , hypoesthesia , pathology , endoneurium , nerve biopsy , neuritis , biopsy , infiltration (hvac) , peripheral neuropathy , immunology , antibody , surgery , endocrinology , physics , sciatic nerve , thermodynamics , diabetes mellitus
Prompted by observations in experimental autoimmune neuritis we reanalyzed immunohistochemically the inflammatory infiltrates in sural nerve biopsies of 22 cases with Guillain‐Barré syndrome (GBS) and 13 cases with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP). Endoneurial infiltration of CD3+ T cells was found in 20 cases of GBS (median 5.5 cells/mm 2 ) and in 10 cases of CIDP (5 cells). Epineurial T cells were present in all GBS cases (19.5 cells) and in 11 CIDP cases (21 cells). CD68+ macrophages were abundant in these neuropathies and often occurred in endoneurial perivascular clusters. In GBS subgroups the number of endoneurial T cells was significantly higher in patients with hypoesthesia and abnormal electrophysiological findings in the sural nerve. In CIDP hypoesthesia was associated with significantly higher numbers of macrophages. Our study also indicates that other factors including the time point of biopsy or previous corticosteroid treatment may influence the inflammatory cell profile. Quantifying cell infiltration may aid in establishing the diagnosis of an immunoneuropathy in patients with mild and noncharacteristic pathology. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.