Antigenic properties of a non-collagenous reticulin component of normal connective tissue.

Rabbit antisera raised against a saline-insoluble non-collagenous reticulin component (NCRC) of pig and human kidney gave immunofluorescent staining of basement membranes, stroma of liver and kidney and newly formed blood vessels in pig, rat and human tissue. The staining patterns closely resembled those reported for anti-reticulin antibodies, and both species-specific and species-shared determinants could be distinguished. Although the antisera reacted least with rat glomeruli in cryostat sections, rabbit immunoglobulin localized persistently but harmlessly in the renal glomeruli of rats given the antisera intravenously. Absorption with NCRC of sera from patients with gluten-sensitive enteropathy in most cases removed the anti-reticulin antibody characteristic of this group of diseases.