Acute immunologic arthritis in rabbits.

Mediators of acute immunologic injury have been studied in vivo by producing arthritis in rabbit knee joints. A reversed passive Arthus lesion was produced by injecting antibody into the joint space and antigen intravenously. Injury was assessed by measuring leakage of serum proteins and circulating radiolabeled proteins into the joint space and by the accumulation of neutrophils in the joint fluid. Inflammatory exudate was recovered for study by a standardized irrigation technique.Maximal vascular permeability developed 2 hr after injection as neutrophils accumulated about immune complexes in venule walls to produce structural injury. After 5 hr the number of neutrophils in the joint space rose rapidly, followed by a second rise in permeability at 8 hr. Neutrophil depletion abolished both peaks of permeability. It was then possible to reconstitute the synovial lesion in neutrophil-depleted rabbits by intra-articular injection of purified suspensions of neutrophils.A requirement for complement was demonstrated in development of the lesion. Rabbits genetically deficient in C6 showed delay in vascular permeability, appearance of neutrophils, and histologic lesions. The delay was longer in normal rabbits depleted of C3. In C6-deficient rabbits depleted of C3, still further reduction in injury occurred. Evidence was obtained as well for a chemotactic attraction of neutrophils in vivo. Antigen-antibody-complement complexes in the walls of blood vessels attracted neutrophils placed in the joint space of neutrophil-depleted rabbits. Omission of either antigen or antibody from this replacement reaction prevented the migration of neutrophils.