The cytotoxic action of immune gamma globulin and complement on Krebs ascites tumor cells. II. Chemical studies

Electrical recordings from meningioma cells during cytolytic action of antibody and complement

Resting membrane potential and total cell resistance of human meningioma cells in tissue culture have been measured with fine microelectrodes. Addition of either antiserum inactivated with heat or control serum from normal rabbits produced small depolarizations (2 to 4 millivolts) with no discernible ( 5 percent) change in resistance. Addition of antiserums with complement, however, produced larger depolarizations and decreases in resistance before any changes in cell morphology were visible with light microscopy; as cytoplasmic swelling progressed, membrane potential dropped close to zero, and resistance decreased five- to tenfold. The electrical recording technique may be useful in the study of sublethal as well as lethal damage to immune cells and, in particular, may permit temporal resolution of damaging events and repair mechanisms in a single cell.

Hereditary deficiency of the second component of complement (C'2) in man

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In vitro cytotoxic effects of lymphoid cells from rats with experimental autoimmune nephrosis

A nephrotic syndrome was induced in randomly bred Sprague-Dawley rats by repeated intraperitoneal injections of homologous kidney extract and Freund's complete adjuvant. Cell injury in vitro was measured by estimating the release of radioactivity from damaged target cells labelled with ¹⁴C-thymidine. Various conditions influencing the reproducibility of the isotope method were investigated.

Blood lymphoid cells, lymph node cells and spleen cells from these rats damaged primary monolayer cultures of rat kidney cells after 18 hr incubation. Lymphoid cells from liver sensitized rats were also cytotoxic to rat kidney cells, whereas lymphoid cells from rats injected with other rat tissue extracts (lung or spleen) or given only adjuvant did not react. Primary cultures of rat lung cells were sensitive while cells of a rat liver cell strain were resistant to the cytotoxic action of lymphoid cells from kidney sensitized rats. Sera from nephrotic rats did not damage rat kidney cells under the experimental conditions used here.

Description and analysis of a simple micro-titration immune cytolytic test

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