Development of transient myasthenia-like symptoms in chickens injected with acetylcholine receptor from Torpedo marmorata

From the results obtained it appears that, although anti-(acetylcholine receptor) antibodies are produced in all chickens immunized with Torpedo receptor, myasthenia-like symptoms may only occur in those birds that develop a relatively rapid humoral response, and, even in these cases, the chickens eventually recover. The relative resistance of chickens to experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis could clearly result from a number of factors. Some chicken muscles are known to be multiply innervated (Bowman & Marshall, 1971) and a relatively high number of acetylcholine receptors could contribute to resistance, as could a more rapid turnover of receptor and/or of immunoglobulins in chickens compared with other experimental animals.