background and objectives: mycoplasma arthritidis mitogen (mam) superantigen has been shown to induce chronic arthritis, which resembles human rheumatoid arthritis (ra) in a rodent model. however, its role as a causative agent in human ra is not well understood yet. the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of mam superantigen gene in the synovial fluid (sf) of ra patients. material...

BACKGROUND It has been recognized that infectious agents, such as different bacteria and viruses, may play a role in the developing of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recently, the mycoplasma species has been implicated in the pathogenesis of RA. AIM The aim of this study was to design a multiplex PCR for rapid and simultaneous detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Mycoplasma hominis, and Mycoplasma...

Mycoplasma arthritidis induces an acute to chronic arthritis in rodents. Arthritis induced in mice histologically resembles human rheumatoid arthritis and can be associated with lethal toxicity following systemic injection. The M. arthritidis mitogen (MAM) superantigen has long been implicated as having a role in pathogenesis, but its significance with respect to toxicity and arthritogenicity i...

Mycoplasma pulmonis and Mycoplasma arthritidis were differentially identified using PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). A genus-specific sequence of mycoplasma was amplified by PCR and the PCR products were digested with the restriction enzyme SmaI. Each PCR product from the four isolates of M. pulmonis was digested with SmaI into two fragments; however, there was no digestion ...

Mycoplasma arthritidis generates a soluble, non-dialysable, polyclonal mitogen which is active for murine and human T lymphocytes in the presence of an adherent, radio-resistant, Ia-bearing accessory cell population. Genetic analysis has established that the I-E sub-region of the murine H2 gene complex controls responses to the mitogen and that this control is exercised at the level of the Ia-b...

Mycoplasma arthritidis causes acute polyarthritis in rats and chronic proliferative arthritis in mice. M. arthritidis-induced arthritis serves as a model for arthritis caused by infectious agents and as a model for examining the role of the superantigen MAM (M. arthritidis T-cell mitogen) in the development of autoimmunity. M. arthritidis strain 158-1 is a spontaneous mutant of strain 158 that ...

Lymphocytes taken from mice chronically infected with Mycoplasma arthritidis exhibited a significant blastogenic response as measured by (3H)thymidine uptake when exposed in vitro to M. arthritidis antigens. The lymphocytes taken from 9 of 12 control mice of similar age exhibited an inhibition of (3H)thymidine uptake when exposed to M. arthritidis antigens.

A Mycoplasma-associated immunosuppression of the primary and secondary hemagglutinin response to a common gram-negative antigen of Escherichia coli (014) was demonstrated in the rabbit when preincubated mixtures of common gram-negative antigen and Mycoplasma arthritidis membranes were injected intravenously. A similar immunosuppression was demonstrated only for the secondary hemagglutinin respo...