Role of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH) - positive cells during inflammatory processes in arthritis

在类风湿关节炎中，在炎症期间发现大量酪氨酸羟化酶（TH）阳性（交感）神经纤维的损失和炎症滑膜组织中TH阳性细胞的明显增加（自己以前的工作）。这些细胞很可能是交感神经-肾上腺素能细胞（我以前的研究）。这些细胞在炎症中的作用还完全不清楚。因此，在此应用程序中，我们要仔细检查以下几点：1。在什么条件下这些细胞产生儿茶酚胺？这些细胞如何调节滑膜巨噬细胞和成纤维细胞的功能，巨噬细胞和成纤维细胞如何调节儿茶酚胺的分泌？这些细胞是否具有促炎作用？它们的清除对实验性关节炎的病程有何影响？人滑膜中TH阳性细胞如何调节TH（选择性剪接？）这些细胞产生的去甲肾上腺素会干扰17ß-雌二醇到2-甲氧基雌二醇的转化吗？这些实验将揭示th阳性细胞在关节炎中的重要性，并可能导致关节炎的新治疗原则。

In rheumatoid arthritis a massive loss of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive (sympathetic) nerve fibres and a clear increase of TH-positive cells in inflamed synovial tissue of humans was found during inflammation (own previous work). Most probably these cells are sympatho-adrenergic cells (own previous work). The role these cells play in inflammation is totally unclear. Therefore, in this application, we want to scrutinise the following points: 1. Under which conditions do these cells produce catecholamines?2. How do these cells modulate the function of synovial macrophages and fibroblasts and how dothe macrophages and fibroblasts modulate the secretion of catecholamines?3. Are these cells proinflammatory and how would the their removal influence the course of experimental arthritis?4. How is TH regulated in TH-positive cells from human synovia (alternative splicing?)5. Does norepinephrine produced by these cells interfere with conversion of 17ß-estradiol to2-methoxyestradiol?These experiments will shed light on the importance of TH-positive cells in arthritis and might lead to new therapeutic principles for arthritis.