Search PubMedSearch

Biomedical subjects

M Abdelmoula

Publications and source records attributed to M Abdelmoula.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

[A simple procedure for the passive suspension of the paralyzed labial commissure].

Different techniques can be used to repair paralytic labial commissurae. Ideally, microsurgical procedures or dynamic suspension methods can correct kinetic paralysis but in certain patients (elderly subjects, poor general health, precarious postsurgical rehabilitation) such procedures may represent an excessively aggressive procedure. We therefore used static suspension of the paralytic labial commissurae based on desepidermization of a nasogeneal flap. This simple technique is easy to perform and is our method of choice for static suspension because the flap pulls the paralysed commissurae upward and doubles the tissue cover, helping overcome buccinator incompetence.

Adult

IgG3 is the major source of cryoglobulins in mice.

A total of 20 of 23 IgG3 mAb derived from unmanipulated autoimmune MRL/MpJ-lpr/lpr mice was shown to generate cryoglobulins which were composed exclusively of IgG3. Although three IgG3 mAb failed to develop cryoglobulins, they were able to bind nonspecifically to any IgG3 molecules as efficiently as cryoprecipitable IgG did. The direct role of the gamma 3 constant region for the generation of cryoglobulins was demonstrated by the following findings: 1) the cryoglobulin activity was independent of the specificity of the IgG3 mAb, 2) no mAb other than those of the IgG3 subclass, including IgM rheumatoid factors (RF), generated cryoglobulins, and 3) the cryoglobulin activity was gained after the Ig class switch of mAb from IgM to IgG3. Analysis of Ig components in three different sources of cryoglobulins, either induced by the injection of bacterial LPS or by the infection with Plasmodium yoelii in BALB/c mice or developed spontaneously in MRL/MpJ-lpr/lpr mice, revealed the selective concentration of IgG3 in these cryoglobulins; greater than 99%, 73% and 58% of IgG recoverable from these three cryoglobulins, respectively, were IgG3. This further attests to the major role of IgG3 in the generation of cryoglobulins in mice. In addition, the enhanced formation and even induction of IgG3 cryoglobulins in the presence of IgM anti-IgG3 RF mAb, and the enrichment of IgM RF in LPS- or malaria-induced cryoglobulins indicated that IgM RF can be involved in the generation of cryoglobulins by interacting with noncryoprecipitable IgG3 as well as cryoprecipitable IgG3.

Animals

Igh-C allotype-linked control of anti-DNA production and clonotype expression in mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii.

The infection of nonlethal strain of Plasmodium yoelii induces the formation of IgG anti-DNA antibodies as a result of polyclonal B cell activation. By using various nonautoimmune strains of mice including H-2 or Igh congenic or recombinant mice, the levels and clonotypes of anti-DNA antibodies elicited by the malaria infection were analyzed in relation to the expression of the MHC or Igh gene. Our results showed there were little, if any, differences in serum anti-DNA levels and their clonotypes among B10 and B6 H-2 congenic mice. In contrast, malaria-induced IgG anti-DNA responses markedly differed quantitatively and clonotypically between murine strains bearing the Ighb allotype and those bearing the Igha, Ighj, Ighd, or Ighn allotype. The latter group of mice produced approximately 5 to 10 times more IgG anti-DNA antibodies than the former group of mice. Clonotypically, mice bearing the Ighb allotype developed high alkaline anti-DNA antibodies of pH 8.0 to 8.5, whereas non-Ighb mice failed to express such alkaline anti-DNA spectrotypes, and exhibited more neutral spectrotypes (pH 7.0 to 8.0). Studies on the Igh recombinant mice indicated that the observed quantitative and clonotypical differences in IgG anti-DNA production was not associated with the variable region, but with the constant region of the Igh gene complex. Our results have suggested that IgG anti-DNA responses occurring as a result of polyclonal B cell activation during the course of malaria infection markedly differs quantitatively and clonotypically among murine strains and appear to be controlled at least in part by the Igh-C gene or gene(s) closely linked to it.

Animals

Cryoglobulinemia induced by monoclonal immunoglobulin G rheumatoid factors derived from autoimmune MRL/MpJ-lpr/lpr mice.

A MRL strain bearing the autosomal recessive mutant gene, lpr (lymphoproliferation), spontaneously develops, in addition to a lupus-like syndrome, unique serological and pathological manifestations. Production of high titers of IgG rheumatoid factors (RF) may be related to the formation of extremely large amounts of cryoglobulins and the development of tissue lesions such as necrotizing polyarteritis, arthritis, and glomerulonephritis. To analyze more directly the relationship of IgG RF to the development of cryoglobulins and tissue injuries, we have established four monoclonal IgG RF secreting hybridomas from unimmunized MRL-lpr/lpr mice and determined their pathogenic effects in normal strains of mice. All the monoclonal IgG RF obtained in this study were of the IgG3 subclass and generated cryoglobulins. However, the fact that not only IgG3 Rf monoclonals but also four of five non-RF IgG3 monoclonals were able to form cryoglobulins, which were composed exclusively of each IgG3 monoclonal, indicates that the IgG3 molecule has a unique physicochemical property to self-associate via nonimmunological interaction and the ability to form cryoglobulins. When the in vivo pathogenic activities of these IgG3 RF and non-RF monoclonals were examined, three of IgG3 RF monoclonals with the specificity to IgG2a were able to induce extensive pathologic manifestations including peripheral vasculitis and glomerulonephritis characteristic of patients with cryoglobulinemia. Our results indicate that the IgG3 itself, independently of its specificity, could be a potential source of cryoglobulins and IgG3 RF, combined with its activity of cryoglobulin formation, may play a significant role in the development of glomerulonephritis and cutaneous vascular lesions of ears and foot pads observed frequently in aged MRL-lpr/lpr mice.

Animals

IgG rheumatoid factors and cryoglobulins in mice bearing the mutant gene lpr (lymphoproliferation).

The autosomal recessive mutant gene, lpr (lymphoproliferation), produces a massive proliferation of T cells in autoimmune MRL mice. Since the MRL strain bearing the lpr mutation is the only strain that spontaneously develops high titers of rheumatoid factors (RF), we have investigated whether non-autoimmune mice (C57BL/6, C3H/HeJ and AKR) bearing the lpr gene could produce RF. Serum levels of RF activity were assessed by a new radioimmunoassay, in which serum samples pretreated with acetate buffer were incubated with 125I-mouse IgG and precipitated with 7% polyethylene glycol. The majority of serum from 4- to 6-month-old non-autoimmune strains of mice bearing the lpr gene exhibited significant RF activity, as did MRL-lpr/lpr mice. Sucrose density-gradient analysis has revealed that all the IgG RF activity was present in a form of immune complexes, sedimenting in the intermediate position (7-19S) and fully dissociable into 7S IgG under an acid condition. This indicates that the production of IgG RF does not require a particular background genome of the MRL strain. In addition, mice bearing the lpr mutation developed extremely large amounts of cryoglobulins, which paralleled the production of RF. Analysis of components of their cryoglobulins revealed a marked enrichment of IgG3 subclass as compared to other IgG subclasses and IgM. These results suggest that IgG3-containing immune complexes represent the major source of cryoglobulins occurring in mice bearing the lpr gene.

Animals