Antibodies reacting with neighbouring gangliosides are present in rabbits with ganglioside induced experimental neuropathy

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2012 vol. 22 p. 1768 - 1768

mmunization of rabbits with bovine brain gangliosides induced an experimental neuropathy, with clinical signs resembling Guillain-Barré syndrome. All the immunized animals developed IgG-immunoreactivity to GM1 ganglioside. In a few (4 out of 27) animals, an additional anti-ganglioside antibody population showing an unusual binding behavior was detected. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and TLC-immunostaining analyses showed that binding of these unusual antibodies required the presence of two co-localized gangliosides. Maximal interaction was observed to a mixture of GM1 and GD1b, but the antibodies also showed ?density-dependent? binding to GD1b, indicating that two molecules of GD1b sufficiently close together were also recognized. The antibodies were purified by affinity chromatography, and displayed the ability to target antigens in biological membranes (rat synaptosomes). The possible origin of these unusual antibodies in terms of the "binding site drift" concept is discussed.