Abstract

Streptococcal cell wall (SCW)-induced arthritis and adjuvant arthritis (AA) are rat models for chronic, erosive polyarthritis. Both models can be induced in susceptible Lewis rats, whereas F344 rats are resistant. In AA as well as in SCW arthritis, antigen-specific T lymphocytes have been demonstrated to be crucial for chronic disease. In this communication we describe our studies to probe the cellular mechanism responsible for the difference in susceptibility of Lewis and F344, using bone marrow chimeras. By transplanting bone marrow cells from F344 into lethally irradiated Lewis recipients, Lewis rats were rendered resistant to SCW arthritis induction. F344 rats reconstituted with Lewis bone marrow, i.e., Lewis----F344 chimeras, develop an arthritis upon SCW injection. For AA comparable results were obtained. These data suggest that both resistance and susceptibility to bacterium-induced chronic arthritis are mediated by hemopoietic/immune cells and that the recipiental environment does not influence the susceptibility to chronic joint inflammation.