Y. Ohba et al., MAJOR HISTOCOMPATIBILITY COMPLEX EXPRESSION IN MUSCLE OF RATS WITH GRAFT-VERSUS-HOST DISEASE, Histology and histopathology, 11(1), 1996, pp. 97-102
Immunohistochemical examination of rat skeletal muscle during graft-ve
rsus-host disease (GVHD), a systemic immune reaction, was performed to
investigate specific immune reactivities focusing on major histocompa
tibility complex (MHC) expression and inflammatory cell infiltration o
f skeletal muscle during a systemic immune reaction. MHC class II expr
ession and inflammatory cell infiltration did not increase. MHC class
I was expressed along the contour of muscle fibres, and most strongly
expressed by the cells which were distributed throughout the endomysiu
m and perimysium. Seventy-six percent of these MHC class I+ cells carr
ied endothelial cell-markers, while 24% of them did not. The latter ce
lls were revealed not to be inflammatory cells such as lymphocytes, gr
anulocytes or macrophages when examined by immunostaining using severa
l exudate-cell markers. Neither were they myosatellite cells because t
hey were located outside the basement membrane. These results may be u
seful for considering animal models of inflammatory myopathies such as
polymyositis and dermatomyositis.