Migration and homing of lymphocytes to lymphoid and synovial tissues in proteoglycan-induced murine arthritis

To describe the migration and homing of labeled donor lymphocytes to the lymphoid organs and synovial tissues of host animals, during the development of cartilage proteoglycan (PG)-induced arthritis adoptively transferred to syngeneic BALB/c mice.

Lymphocytes from either nonarthritic or arthritic donor animals were labeled with either fluorescent or radioactive cell linkers (PKH-GL) and injected into syngeneic, immunosuppressed mice. The homing patterns of donor lymphocytes following the injection of labeled cells were studied by fluorescence microscopy and by measurement of radioactivity in tissue samples.

Lymphocytes from arthritic donors retained their ability to transfer the disease after labeling. In the lymphoid organs, arthritic and nonarthritic donor lymphocytes exhibited similar homing patterns, although remarkable differences were found in the number of homing cells derived from nonarthritic and arthritic donors. However, labeled cells only from arthritic animals migrated to the synovial tissue of the recipient mice, and their appearance was associated with the onset of arthritis.

Lymphocytes from mice with PG-induced arthritis, in contrast to lymphocytes from non-arthritic donors, exhibit preferential homing to the synovial tissue of the host. Adoptive transfer of arthritis is linked to the appearance of these cells in the synovium.