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The sudden, explosive onset of obsessive-compulsive behaviors in prepubertal children after streptococcal infection (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infection [PANDAS]) has spurred research into immune mechanisms (JW Psychiatry Nov 2 2005). Now, a preclinical study delves further into the possible role of autoantibodies.
The researchers investigated behaviors believed to be the animal equivalents of PANDAS in mice infected with streptococcus (strep), strep-naive control mice, and naive mice given the sera of infected animals. Some mice received sera that were depleted of immunoglobulin G (IgG). The investigators also tested whether the peripheral and central nervous systems would have evidence of…