Sheep erythrocyte sensitisation and restriction to lysis by the complement system from equine and sheep serum

Abstract

The effect of the degree of sheep red cell sensitisation by antibody in the resistance to lysis by sheep and horse complement was analysed. The results showed that, as the level of sensitisation increased, so did the homologous complement activity, eventually leading to one hundred percent of lysis; the same was observed for horse serum, generally considered as not efficient at lysing these cells. Therefore, the homologous and heterologous restriction can be overridden by this treatment. This may be of interest for the comprehension of the mechanisms involved in the modulation of the restriction phenomenon in health an in diseases involving complement in domestic animals and in human, as well as in laboratory diagnosis where hemolytic assays are used for measurement of complement activity and evaluation of presence of antibodies in serum samples.