The Anticomplementary Activity of 'Fusobacterium polymorphum' in Normal and C-4 Deficient Sources of Guinea Pig Complement.

摘要

A complement consumption assay was used to show that the anticomplementary activity of a cell wall preparation from F. polymorphum in guinea pig complement progressed optimally at 37 C and suboptimally at 0 C. Similar levels of complement consumption were recorded at both temperatures, but a higher concentration of cell walls was required in order to demonstrate maximum activity in the cold. Augmentation experiments using additional normal and heat treated complement showed the presence of heat labile factors which controlled and limited the consumption of complement to a constant proportion of the total amount present. These same experiments indicated that there were no reactive antibodies in the complement used in the assay. Similar tests with C'4-deficient guinea pig sera confirmed that F. polymorphum cell walls were capable of generating alternate complement pathway activity in guinea pig sera.