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From the Division of Animal Pathology, Dominion Department of Agriculture, Animal Diseases Research Institute, Hull, Quebec
Abstract
Horse, cow, and sheep complements, all three of which are "non-hemolytic" for sheep red cells sensitized with specific rabbit antiserum, were found to be hemolytic for rabbit red cells, either untreated or sensitized with specific sheep antiserum. Hence, a sensitized rabbit-red-cell suspension was used as the indicator in the titration of complement in fresh sera of these three species. The titers obtained differed significantly from these determined with the "standard" hemolytic indicator or by conglutination.
Dialysis in the cold in phosphate buffer of pH 5.4 and ionic strength 0.02, separated these complements into insoluble and soluble fractions that were inactive alone but which on admixture showed hemolytic properties for sensitized rabbit-red-cells. Treatment with zymosan or hydrazine in suitable amounts inactivated each of these complements; the hemolytic activity was restored by the addition of heated serum of the same and of certain other species.
Titrations of hemolytic activity for sensitized rabbit-red-cells suggest therefore that the complements of the horse, sheep, and cow, like those of the other complements previously studied, consist of a complex of four major components, which it seems reasonable to designate as C'1, C'2, C'3 and C'4, although, owing to some species incompatibility they may not always prove mutually interchangeable with the corresponding complement components of the guinea-pig or other animals.
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