Reticulin and its related structural connective tissue proteins in the rheumatoid synovium

Argyrophilic reticulin fibres are an important component of the rheumatoid synovium and their distribution and that of their individual protein constituents have been studied in synovial biopsies from a series of 29 cases of rheumatoid arthritis. In acutely inflamed synovia they are predominantly found underneath the hyperplastic synovial lining layer and related to the inflammatory cell infiltrate. With developing chronicity the reticulin network is gradually replaced by mature collagen. This histological pattern is mirrored by changes in the individual components of reticulin fibres-fibronectin, the non-collagenous reticulin component of Pras and Glynn (NCRC) and collagen type III.