EXPERIMENTAL SENSORY NEUROPATHY INDUCED BY SENSITIZATION WITH GANGLIOSIDE GD1B

Three of six rabbits immunized with purified GD1b developed ataxic sen sory neuropathy. They laid on the floor with their limbs splayed out, and their movements were awkward; but muscle power, tonus, and superfi cial sensation appeared to be intact. Sciatic nerve motor conduction s tudies were normal. Axonal degeneration was present in the dorsal colu mn of the spinal cord, in the dorsal roots, and in the sciatic nerve. Some of the nerve cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglia had degenerat ed and disappeared. No demyelinative lesions or mononuclear cell infil trations were seen in those regions. No pathological changes were pres ent in the other three immunized rabbits that showed no clinical sympt oms. Control rabbits inoculated only with adjuvants showed neither cli nical symptoms nor pathological changes. Anti-GD1b antibody was raised in the sera from all six rabbits immunized with GD1b. The monoclonal anti-GD1b antibody GGR12 immunostained about one-half the rabbit prima ry sensory neurons. Sensitization with GD1b, therefore, may cause atax ic sensory neuropathy in rabbits due to antibody-mediated damage to th e primary sensory neurons.