Immune-inflammatory response in infected arthroplasties.

We studied the immunocytology of synovial fluid in purulent endoprosthetic infections using cell subtype-specific monoclonal antibodies in avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex staining. Two thirds of the monocytes were CD15-positive, whereas CD2-positive T lymphocytes only formed one third of all the mononuclear cells. The synovial fluid monocyte-activated T-cell ratio differed from findings in sterile inflammatory, reactive and rheumatoid arthritis.