Journal of Neuroimmunology, 8 (1985) 29-41 Elsevier JNI 00239 29 Muscle Acetylcholine Receptor Loss in Murine Experimental Autoimmune Myasthenia Gravis: Correlated with Cellular, Humoral and Clinical Responses Premkumar Christadoss 1,, Jon Lindstrom 2, Sam Munro 1 and Norman Talal 1 I Clinical Immunology Section, A udie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital, and Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78284. and " The Salk Institute, LaJolla, CA 92112 (U.S.A.) (Received 26 March, 1984) (Revised, received 27 July, 1984) (Accepted 28 July, 1984) Summary An extensive analysis of the relationship between immunological parameters and clinical responses and biochemical loss of muscle acetylcholine receptors (AChR) was performed in murine experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis. The onset of clinical muscle weakness correlated strongly with the onset of significant muscle AChR loss. Mice with clinical muscle weakness had greater amount of muscle AChR loss. There was no correlation between the concentration of anti-AChR antibodies and the presence of clinical muscle weakness or amount of muscle AChR loss. However, the kinetics of autoantibody response correlated well with that of muscle AChR loss. Key words: Anti-A ChR antibodies - Murine experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis - Muscle acetylcholine receptors (,4 ChR) Supported by grants from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the General Medical Research Service of the Veterans Administration. * To whom correspondence should be addressed: Premkumar Christadoss, M.D., Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78284, U.S.A. 0165-5728/85/$03.30 © 1985 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division)