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Replacement of Magnesium by Cobalt and Manganese in the Interactions of the Properdin System with Bacteria and with Zymosan

From The Institute of Pathology, Western Reserve University, Cleveland 6, Ohio

Abstract

A study has been made of the functional replacement of Mg⁺⁺ by other cations in the interactions of properdin and complement with bacteria and with zymosan.

Of 22 cations tested, only Mg⁺⁺, Co⁺⁺ and Mn⁺⁺ were able to restore bactericidal activity to serum that had been treated with cation-exchange resin. Mg⁺⁺ was quantitatively the most effective, being twice as active as Co⁺⁺ and five times as active as Mn⁺⁺ on a molar basis. Ca⁺⁺ was completely inactive.

Mg⁺⁺, Co⁺⁺ and Mn⁺⁺, when added to resintreated serum at levels that effectively restored bactericidal activity, also restored the ability of the serum to form a properdin-zymosan complex with zymosan at 17°. However, only Mg⁺⁺ and Co⁺⁺ restored to resin-treated serum the property of rendering C'3 susceptible to inactivation by zymosan at 37°C.

These findings point out differences between the mechanism of the bactericidal activity of the properdin system and the inactivation of C'3 by zymosan.

Footnotes

¹ Present address: Wright-Fleming Institute of Microbiology, St. Mary's Hospital Medical School London, W. 2.

² Deceased.