Arthritis was produced in rats by the intravenous injection of Mycoplasma arthritidis. Metabolic inhibiting antibody and indirect hemagglutinating antibody could not be detected in the sera of arthritic or convalescent animals. Nonmurine species of mycoplasma were capable of inducing metabolic inhibiting antibody in the rat. A hypothesis based upon the possible occurrence of heterogenetic antig...

A procedure has been developed for the detection of mycoplasmacidal antibody in the serum of rats and mice infected with Mycoplasma arthritidis. Antibody activity can apparently be measured only by using resting mycoplasma cells. The reaction is complement dependent and is usually complete within 3 h. Early antibody (5 days) could be detected only within the immunoglobulin (Ig)M fraction, where...

The genomes of several species of mycoplasma have been sequenced. Most of these species rely on the glycolytic pathway for energy production, with the one exception of Ureaplasma, a species that breaks down urea as its principle source of acquiring energy. Several species, including as Mycoplasma arthritidis, are nonglycolytic and can use arginine as their source of energy. Described here are t...

Ocular deposits of immune complexes are believed to contribute to the anterior segment inflammations observed in association with the human arthritides. Arthritis-related ocular inflammations may be reproduced in animals by infection with certain species of mycoplasma. To evaluate the role of immune complexes in the production of ocular lesions, we studied their involvement in the rodent model ...

Mycoplasma arthritidis mitogen (MAM) is produced by an organism which can cause chronic proliferative arthritis in rodents. MAM possesses a typical superantigenic activity; it has the ability to activate a large panel of T cells which express specific V beta segments of the T-cell receptor. The presentation of MAM to T cells by antigen-presenting cells is mediated primarily through its binding ...

There is increasing epidemiologic evidence implying a role for chronic infection in atherosclerosis and that microbial TLR agonists may contribute to this disease. Mycoplasma arthritidis is an agent of acute and chronic inflammatory disease in rodents, and has been used extensively as a model for defining the mechanisms involved in arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. We have purified a 2...

Mycoplasma arthritidis mitogen (MAM) is a potent superantigen secreted by M. arthritidis, an agent of murine arthritis. Here we compare the abilities of MAM to induce a panel of cytokines in vitro and in vivo in BALB/c and C3H/HeJ mouse strains that differ in susceptibility to mycoplasmal arthritis. Splenocytes from both mouse strains produced high levels of all cytokines by 24 h following in v...

In earlier studies, the isolation of mycoplasmas from the bone marrow of patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and from synovial fluid in rheumatoid arthritis was reported were shown to have at least partial antigenic identity with Mycoplasma arthritidis. In the present investigation, the structure of one of these isolates was studied by thin sectioning and compared with th...