Summary
Clinical evidence suggests that endocrinal factors are involved in fluctuations of the symptoms of women with myasthenia gravis. We studied the effect of estradiol and progesterone in an animal model for myasthenia gravis in rats. Although it was found that the mass of muscles was dependent on sex, and in female rats affected by estradiol, the number of acetylcholine receptors in these muscles was independent of sex and hormone administration. Sex hormones failed to influence the severity of muscle weakness in myasthenic rats.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed SA, Penhale WJ, Talal N (1985) Sex hormones, immune responses, and autoimmune diseases. Am J Pathol 121: 531–551
Asher O, Neumann D, Fuchs S (1988) Increased levels of acetylcholine receptor α-subunit mRNA in experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis. FEBS Letters 233: 277–281
Green DPL, Miledi R, Perez de la Mora M, Vincent A (1975) Acetylcholine receptors. Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond B 270: 551–559
Molenaar PC, Newsom-Davis J, Polak RL, Vincent A (1981) Choline acetyltransferase in skeletal muscle from patients with myasthenia gravis. J Neurochem 37: 1081–1088
Molenaar PC, Oen BS, Plomp JJ, Van Kempen GTH, Jennekens FGI, Hesselmans LFGM (1991) A non-immunogenic myasthenia gravis model and its application in a study of transynaptic regulation. Eur J Pharmacol 196: 93–101
Oosterhuis HJGH (1984) Myasthenia gravis. Churchill Livingstone, Edinburgh, p 45
Vincent A (1980) Immunology of acetylcholine receptors in relation to myasthenia gravis. Physiol Rev 60: 756–824
Wilson SA, Vincent A, Newsom-Davis J (1983) Acetylcholine receptor turnover in mice with passively transferred myasthenia gravis II. Receptor synthesis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 46: 383–387
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Van Kempen, G.T.H., Molenaar, P.C. Effect of estradiol and progesterone on muscle weight and acetylcholine receptors in “myasthenic” rats. J. Neural Transmission 87, 193–197 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01245365
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01245365