title: C5 does not play a major role in the immune response of mice to SRBC in vivo.
abstract: The role of complement component C5 in the immune response of mice to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) was investigated. Congenic C5-sufficient and C5-deficient B10. D2 mice and genetically C5-deficient DBA/2 mice, as such or supplemented with C5-sufficient serum, were used as experimental animals. C5-substitution of the C5-deficient mice resulted in measurable C5 levels for days. The functional half-life of C5 in C5-deficient DBA/2 mice was about 21 h. No significant differences between the IgM-responses of C5-bearing and naive C5-deficient animals were observed. This suggests that C5 does not play a major role in the primary humoral immune response of mice in vivo, although C5 seems to do so in in vitro experiments, even with the same antigen. Antigen-induced C5-production by C5-deficient mice as one of the explanations of the in vitro/in vivo discrepancy could not be confirmed experimentally.
authors.affiliation: Section of Experimental Microbiology, Eijkman-Winkler Laboratory of Medical Microbiology, State University of Utrecht, University Hospital, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: van Horssen
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Hofhuis
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Aerts
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: van Dijk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D003182:Complement C5 / Q000502:physiology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D012756:Sheep
chemical_list: D003182:Complement C5