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Metabolic Behavior of C3 in Normal, C4-Deficient (C4D) and Cortisone-Treated Guinea Pigs¹

From the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, and the Department of Microbiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205.

Abstract

C3 was isolated from the pseudoglobulin fraction of guinea pig serum by DEAE and CM-cellulose chromatography and Pevikon block electrophoresis. The final product, which was functionally and chemically pure, was radiolabeled with ¹²⁵I by chloramine-T and used for turnover studies. In normal guinea pigs, metabolic studies revealed the following: fractional catabolic rate (FCR), 7.9 ± 0.4%/hr (S.E.); synthetic rate, 6.2 ± 0.4 mg/kg/hr; and percent of C3 in the plasma pool, 51 ± 2. The corresponding means were not significantly different in C4 deficient animals, suggesting that activation of the classical complement pathway is not essential for significant C3 turnover in the resting state. Guinea pigs were given 20 (low) or 100 (high) mg cortisone acetate/kg. Serum C3 levels fell 27 ± 6% and 52 ± 5%, respectively, over the course of 2 weeks of therapy and stabilized at the lower values. In cortisone-treated animals studied during steady state conditions (after 14 days of continuous therapy), the FCR was 9.2 ± 4%/hr and 12.5 ± 7%/hr for the low and high dose groups, respectively. Synthetic rates and per centage of C3 in the intravascular pool were similar in treated and untreated animals. Two weeks after discontinuing therapy, the serum C3 and FCR had returned to normal. Thus, an increased fractional catabolic rate is primarily responsible for the depressed serum levels of C3 observed in cortisone-treated animals.

Footnotes

¹ Presented in part at the National Meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Atlantic City, New Jersey, April 11, 1973.