Premium
CHARACTERIZATION OF MYCOPLASMA STRAINS AND ANTIBODY STUDIES FROM PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS *
Author(s) -
Bartholomew Lee E.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1967.tb27699.x
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , library science , citation , rheumatoid arthritis , computer science
Previously reported studies' have described the isolation methods and initial characterization of mycoplasma from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) , systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) , and Reiter's syndrome. These strains were isolated in cell culture using two primary cell lines, green monkey kidney and diploid human embryonic lung fibroblasts. Inocula included synovial fluid, kidney tissue, serum, and bone marrow. All control tubes, and those inoculated with material from patients with osteoarthritis, traumatic arthritis, and gout remained free of mycoplasma. Growth of mycoplasma in cell-free medium occurred after three to eight passages in cell culture. TABLE 1 summarizes the number of isolations and cell lines used. Not all specimens were inoculated into each cell line. In one case, mycoplasma were isolated from the same specimen in both cell lines. Mycoplasma have been isolated from 10 patients with RA, four from SLE, and two from Reiter's syndrome. This represents an approximate recovery rate of 20 % . Initial studies of antibiotic sensitivity to the RA-SLE strains showed that they were relatively resistant to streptomycin and sensitive to tetracycline. However, sensitivity to chloramphenicol and kanamycin varied considerably. They fermented glucose and caused an alpha type hemolysis of sheep red cells. The present report describes the antigenic characterization of these strains using growth-inhibition, complement-fixation, and gel diffusion methods. A study of complement-fixing antibody in serum and synovial fluid from patients with RA is included.