IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL STUDIES ON INTERNAL DERANGEMENT AND ORGANIC DISTURBANCE OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR-JOINT

The study examined the articular cartilages of 14 patients who suffere d from temporomandibular joint disturbance syndrome (TMJDS) and 3 heal thy fresh cadavers by light microscopy and immunofluorencence, and ass ayed 14 patients' synovial fluids and sera with indirect hemoagglutina tion. The results showed that there were antibodies to type II collage n in synovial fluids in 5 of 14 patients and there were some immune co mplexes in cartilage. So, the authors think that there are autoimmune reactions in the articular tissues in TMJDS because of the exposure of some sequestered antigens.