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Multiple sclerosis: Capping of surface immunoglobulin G on macrophages engaged in myelin breakdown
Author(s) -
Prineas J. W.,
Graham J. S.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
annals of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.764
H-Index - 296
eISSN - 1531-8249
pISSN - 0364-5134
DOI - 10.1002/ana.410100205
Subject(s) - myelin , phagocytosis , multiple sclerosis , antibody , cytoplasm , chemistry , macrophage , immunoglobulin g , central nervous system , immunology , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , biology , medicine , biochemistry , neuroscience , in vitro
Macrophages were examined for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and albumin in actively demyelinating lesions in two patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using the peroxidase‐antiperoxidase immunocytochemical technique. In both cases, macrophages were present that stained for cytoplasmic or surface IgG or both. In one case, in which the tissue was rapidly fixed in chilled fixative, macrophages located among myelinated nerve fibers at plaque margins, but not elsewhere in the plaque, revealed surface IgG in the form of caps restricted to one or both poles of the cell. These caps were absent in sections stained for albumin. Because capping implies the presence of a multivalent ligand close to the cell surface and because cap formation was observed only in macrophages contacting myelin sheaths, we suggest that antimyelin antibody cytophilic for macrophages may be present in the central nervous system in MS, and that immune ligand‐mediated phagocytosis may play a role in myelin breakdown in the disease. This study provides the first direct evidence that IgG participates locally in myelin breakdown in MS.