Material prepared from normal brain inhibits migration of leukocytes from Huntington's disease patients

Material inhibiting migration of leukocytes in vitro from Huntington's disease patients, was obtained from human brain removed at autopsy. The active material was present in brainstem, basal ganglia and cerebellum but not in cerebral cortex. It could be recovered at autopsy up to 21.5 h after death, but not from patients who had died following prolonged anoxia. It was susceptible to heating and to freezing and thawing. Its activity was preserved in acid medium to pH 3, and its iso-electric point was around pH 5. Activity was present in the fraction eluted from gel filtration with molecular weight of 1.9 X 10(5). Protein, carbohydrate, lipid and nucleic acid could be identified in the active material, and its activity depended on intact protein and carbohydrate moieties. Sialic acid, although present, did not contribute to antigenicity. Extraction with lipid solvents abolished activity.