Establishment of Autoimmune Experimental Animal Model for Rheumatoid Arthritis

The autoimmune experimental animal model was established in Wistar rats by intradermal injections of chicken collagen type II (CCII) emulsified with complete Freund's adjuvant(CFA). Serum level of anti-CCII antibody was determined by ELISA,and the degree of pathogenicity as well as the pathological characteristics were assayed by histopathological techniques and joint roentgenography. The blood and synovia obtained from rats with arthritis were examined by cultural methods for microorganisms. Experimental results showed that the incidence of arthritis in rats immunized with CCII in the presence of CFA was approximately 80% in the experimental group and a peak arthritis index was achieved at 25 days after immunlization. The serum level of antibody to CCII analyzed by ELISA was significantly higher than that of the controls. As demonstrated by histopathology and roentgenography,typical arthritis pathology with chronic proliferative synovitis and secondarily destroyed articular cartilage and bone was found. No bacteria or mycoplasna were detected in blood or synovial cultures. The animal model with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was successfully established in this experiment and its characteristic pathology was quite similar to that of human rheumatoid arthritis. This study provide a valuable experimental material for further study on the mechanism of pathogenesis and the clinical treatment of human rheumatic arthritis.