Anti-phospholipid antibodies in the mercuric chloride treated brown Norway rat

Anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPL), in the form of anti-cardiolipin antibodies (aCL) and/or lupus anticoagulant (LAC), are found in a number of disorders, including systemic lupus erythematosus. Autoimmune aPL are associated with clinical manifestations that may include vascular thrombosis, recurrent fetal loss, thrombocytopenia, livedo reticularis and neurological abnormalities. aPL found in the context of infections such as syphilis are not usually associated with clinical complications. Here we report the presence of aCL in Brown Norway (BN) rats treated with mercuric chloride (HgCl2), which is known to induce a number of other autoantibodies. Some also showed LAC activity as shown by extension of the kaolin clotting test time. The binding of human autoimmune aPL is known to be considerably enhanced by a serum cofactor, beta 2-glycoprotein I; only slight enhancement, and in some cases inhibition, was found with BN rat aPL. These results indicate that aPL can be added to the list of autoantibodies that have been documented in the HgCl2 treated BN rat. The effect of addition of serum co-factor suggests that these are most closely related to human infection-associated (as opposed to autoimmune) aPL.