Different molecular forms of fibronectin in rheumatoid synovial fluid

The concentration of fibronectin in rheumatoid synovial fluid was found to be 2-3 times higher than in the corresponding plasma. Normal plasma revealed a homogeneous precipitate by cross- immunoelectrophoresis using antifibronectin, while rheumatoid plasma and rheumatoid synovial fluid exhibited a heterogeneous precipitate. The heterogeneous precipitate in rheumatoid plasma was found to be a complex between fibronectin and fibrinogen as evidenced by cross-immunoelectrophoresis. Synovial fluid fibronectin demonstrated a lower molecular weight by gelfiltration on Sepharose CL6B than did normal plasma fibronectin. We suggest that the presence of degraded fibronectin in rheumatoid synovial fluid may be the result of either the degradation of fibrin-fibronectin complexes or the destruction of matrix fibronectin from the synovial tissue.