Autometallographic Demonstration of Gold Uptake in Cultured Synovial Fluid Cells from Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abstract

Gold can be visualized in synoviocytes and subsynovial mononuclear cells of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with gold compounds (1-3), and has been found to interfere with the structure and function of monocytes/macrophages (4-8). Synovial fluid cells (SFC) have not been examined. Recently a revised version of the photochemical method for the demonstration of gold was presented (9). This autometallographic technique can be applied both to light microscopy and to electron microscopy and allows the detection of 3-6 gold atoms, theoretically 1 atom, by silver enhancement in ultraviolet (UV) radiated tissue sections. In the present study gold has been demonstrated by this method in the SFC of patients in chrysotherapy and in cultured synovial cells incubated with gold in vitro.