TITLE:
Streptococcal Antibody Probe Crosses the Blood Brain Barrier and Interacts within the Basal Ganglia
AUTHORS:
Robyn Gebhard, Courtney Huff, Mathew Osborne, Lisa Riegle, Marie Kelly-Worden
KEYWORDS:
Blood Brain Barrier, Antibodies, Basal Ganglia, Streptococcus, Rat
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pathology,
Vol.5 No.2,
April
1,
2015
ABSTRACT: Within the brain, the basal ganglia (basal
nuclei) regulates wanted movement and inhibits unwanted movement. This area of
the brain is intertwined with capillary beds that bring nutrients to the brain
and form the blood brain barrier. During disease state, antibodies are
increased in circulation and movement of these antibodies into the basal
ganglia can occur. Streptococcal infection can lead to the generation of
antibodies that have autoimmune activity within the brain. These antibodies
have been implicated in neurological disorders. In our laboratory, an in vitro
study of a monoclonal mouse antibody generated against the class 1 epitope of
the M6 protein has demonstrated binding within the basal ganglia of Lewis rat
brains. Here we present an in vivo study using Lewis rats injected with either
the streptococcal antibody or an anti-myosin positive control. The interaction
and movement of the antibody from blood vessels into the tissues of the basal
ganglia was determined through the use of immunofluorescence and fluorescent
microscopy and is contrasted with IgG injected and uninjected controls. Our
data demonstrates that the streptococcal antibody penetrates the blood brain
barrier within 24 hours (as determined by the presence of immunofluorescence outside
of blood vessels) and remains significantly elevated above control values even
72 hours after injection (p