Aspects of ankylosing spondylarthritis immunopathogenesis correlated with some immunoseric- and synovial parameters in the investigation of histopathological and electronmicroscopic alterations of the articular cartilage correlated with some immunoseric and synovial parameters.

Eighteen biopsies of articular cartilage taken intraoperatory from patients with Ankylosing Spondylarthritis (AS) and from others with traumatisms (controls) were investigated using histopathological (HE, VG, PAS-Alcian, Gömöri, Safranin 0), electronmicroscopic and histoenzymamologic techniques. Histopathologically, the synovitis in AS is characterized by abundant synovia lymphoplasmocytic infiltrates associated with aspects of vascular hyperplasia and fibrosis. At the pannus synovia-cartilage junction we found the invasive synovia lymphoplasmocytic infiltrates. The proteoglycan (PG) depletion is confirmed histopathologically by diminishing the Safranin 0 staining, then ultrastructurally by the existence of collagen revealing areas, whereas biochemically, by the presence of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in serum and synovial fluid (SF). The morphological data were related to some immunological parameters involved in pathogenesis. In this way, we found pathological values of the immune circulating complexes (ICC) (serum, mean = 73.5 U; SF mean = 81.80 U) and of anti Collagen II antibodies (serum mean = 410 U; SF mean = 436 U). The reactive protein C acting in the phase (CRP) showed high pathological values both in serum (mean = 5.01 mg%) and in SF (mean = 3.6 mg%) of the patients with AS, emphasizing the inflammatory characteristics of the rheumatic disease. The presence of ICC, anticollagen II antibodies and GAS as well in synovia suggests that the inflammatory articulation in AS is a local potential antigen of collagen and proteoglycan nature.