PH OPTIMA IN IMMUNE HEMOLYSIS: A COMPARISON BETWEEN GUINEA PIG AND HUMAN COMPLEMENT

Hemolytic assay for goat (caprine) and swine (porcine) complement

Optimal conditions for assaying hemolytic complement of goat (caprine) and swine (porcine) sera were determined. Effects of the following were tested: pH, ionic strength, calcium and magnesium ion concentrations, time and temperature of incubation, and ethylenediamine tetracetate concentration. Guinea pig erythrocytes sensitized with goat or cattle antibodies were the most sensitive target cells for goat complement. Sheep and cattle erythrocytes sensitized with rabbit hemolysin were the best target cells for swine complement. Barbital buffer, pH 7.3, ionic strength of 90 nmM relative salt concentration, containing 0.5 mM CaCl2 and 1 mM MgCl2 was the best for swine complement assay. Goat complement lysed best in a barbital buffer, pH 8, ionic strength of 90 to 120 mM of relative salt concentration, in presence of 0.5 mM CaCl2 and 1 mM MgCl2. The optimal incubation temperature was 37 degrees C for both complements. The complement dependent lysis required 75 minutes to reach its maximum. Ethylenediamine tetracetate in 4 mM concentration completely inhibited lysis by both species complements. The CH50 for goat sera varied between 18 and 75 per ml, in swine sera between 75 and 210 per ml.

Chicken (Gallus gallus) hemolytic complement: optimal conditions for its titration

The effect of pH, ionic strength, cation concentration, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid trisodium salt (Na3EDTA), time and temperature were studied to determine the optimal conditions for titrating the hemolytic complement (C) activity in sera of chicken (Gallus gallus). Swine erythrocytes (E) sensitized with rabbit antibodies were the most sensitive, while chicken serum had a smaller amount of "natural" antibody against them than against red blood cells from other five species tested. The highest titers of chicken C, when tested with swine sensitized E, were detected when isotonic NaCl-barbital buffer was used as diluent, having the ionic strength of 0.15, conductance of 11 millimhos/cm at 20 degrees C. However, maximal chicken C titers detected with sensitized rabbit E were obtained at ionic strength of 0.07 to 0.11 depending on pH. A final concentration of 1 X 10(-3) M of Mg2+ and 3 X 10(-4) M of Ca2+ and pH 8 were optimal in both cases. The temperature of 30 degrees C and time of 60 minutes were appropriate to reveal the maximal titers..

Haemolysis in chicken serum. I. The ionic environment

Immune haemolysis in chicken serum was examined using rabbit cells, sensitized with chicken antibody. Salt concentration was a major influence on complement activity: titres were greatly increased at ionic strengths which sustain negligible activity of human, rabbit, or guinea-pig complements. Sensitivity of the assay was also increased if standard Mg^{+ +} was lowered to 7.5 × 10^-4M and Ca^{+ +} increased to 6–9 × 10^-4M. Cobalt ion and Ba^{+ +} facilitated complement activity; Ni^{+ +} did not. Cobalt ion seemed to act as an Mg^{+ +} substitute, and barium as a replacement for Ca^{+ +}. The kinetics of haemolysis in this system resembled those of human complement: a rapid initial rate, followed by a slower one, but no levelling off at 4 hours.

Natural antibody to rabbit cells may be excluded from the titration by absorption or by limiting Mg^{+ +} in the buffer. The nature of this Mg^{+ +} dependence is unknown.

A platelet and granulocyte membrane defect in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria: usefulness for the detection of platelet antibodies

The tendency of platelets and leukocytes to lyse after their interaction with antibody and complement was studied by measuring the release of (51)Cr from cells labeled with this isotope. Platelets from six patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) were 15-230 times more sensitive to antibodies and 10-32 times more sensitive to complement than normal platelets or platelets from patients with other types of thrombocytopenic or hemolytic disorders. Mixed white blood cell (WBC) preparations from patients with PNH were 3-20 times more sensitive to anti-WBC antibodies and 5-10 times more sensitive to C' than were WBC preparations from normal subjects, but PNH lymphocytes showed normal immunologic reactivity. PNH platelets, like PNH erythrocytes, lysed more readily than normal platelets in acidified serum and in media of reduced ionic strength, but these characteristics were not demonstrable with PNH WBC's under the conditions of study. In PNH, platelets appear to comprise a single population with respect to their sensitivity to immune lysis, yet their survival time as measured with (51)Cr falls within normal limits. PNH granulocytes likewise appear to consist of a single, uniformly sensitive population. It is concluded that, in PNH, platelets and granulocytes share the membrane defect characteristic of erythrocytes in this disorder. These observations support the concept that PNH arises as the result of a somatic mutation in a primitive cell capable of differentiating into erythroblast, myeloblast, and megakaryoblast lines. PNH platelets or enzymatically treated normal platelets permit the detection of some types of platelet antibodies in dilutions up to 2000-fold greater than is possible with currently available methods, a finding suggesting that the immune lysis technique will prove useful for the study of platelet immunology.