AUTOANTIBODIES AND NEPHRITIS IN WHITE STRAIN (NZ) OF NEW ZEALAND MICE

Significant proportions of a presumably “healthy” strain (NZW) of New Zealand mice had erythrocyte autoantibodies, antinuclear factor, and glomerulonephritis. Clinical expression of these abnormalities, however, was rare: Coombs' antibody was transient; hemolytic anemia was absent; clinical nephritis was uncommon. It is suggested that this NZW strain of mice may provide a particularly useful model for studies of the ability of drugs, antigens, or microorganisms to promote clinical disease in an animal with an autoimmune diathesis. Copyright © 1969 American College of Rheumatology