6533b872fe1ef96bd12d3792

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Characterization of the Purified Fourth Component of Guinea Pig Complement* *Supported by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grant Kl 124/9).

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Publisher Summary A strain of rabbits deficient in complement was discovered in Freiburg, Germany in 1961. A second, clearly unrelated, strain was reported in Mexico. Both these strains are deficient in C6. A further complement-deficient rabbit was found by chance in Cambridge. This paper presents some data on the colony bred from this animal. C6 was partially purified from rabbit serum by chromatography on DEAE Cellulose and hydroxyapatite. Antibody to rabbit C6 in deficient rabbits was raised by four weekly injections of alum precipitated C6 with Bordetella pertussis as adjuvant into the knee joints, followed by three intravenous injections of the alum precipitated material without B. pertussis . The chapter presents reactions of the serum from the original Cambridge rabbit compared with those of a normal rabbit and of some serum from a Mexican Co-deficient rabbit. It is seen that C1, C4, C2, C3, and conglutinogen-activating factor are present but that heat stable cells are not formed. The deficiency, therefore, must be in C5, C6, or C7. C5 deficiency may be excluded since C5-deficient mouse serum reconstitutes the lytic capacity of the deficient serum. C7 activity has been demonstrated in the deficient serum by reactive hemolysis. The deficiency therefore must be of C6. This is confirmed by the failure of any mixture of the Cambridge and Mexican sera to produce lysis