Myasthenia Gravis: Passive Transfer from Man to Mouse

• DOI: 10.1126/science.1179220
• Publication Date: 2006-10-05T15:11:22Z
• Authors: Klaus V. Toyka; Daniel B. Brachman; Alan Pestronk; Ing Kao
• Keywords: Repetitive nerve stimulation; Neuromuscular transmission

Daily injections into mice of an ammonium sulfate-precipitated immunoglobulin fraction serum from patients with myasthenia gravis were carried out for up to 14 days. The showed reduced amplitudes miniature endplate potentials and numbers acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junctions. Some typical decremental responses on repetitive nerve stimulation, reversal by neostigmine. This represents first evidence a circulating factor in which passive transfer reproduces features disease experimental animals.