Complement-mediated solubilization of immune complexes in immune complex nephritis

In order to examine the ability of complement to solubilize the immune complexes (IC) in vivo, we made acute or chronic serum sickness nephritis in 10 rabbits or 12 rats with injection of BSA as antigen (Ag). Animals were devided into two groups. The 500 μ or 50 μ/week of cobra venom factor (CVF) for rabbits or rats was administered intraperitoneally in one group of animals to reduce the serum complement levels and complement-mediated solubilization of immune complex. On the other hand, the 2 ml or 0.2 ml/week of turpentine oil (TO) was injected intramuscularly in another group of animals to elevate the serum complement levels. The renal biopsy was performed with weekly intervals in each animals, and the specimens were stained for antigen (BSA), antibody (IgG) and C3 by immunofluorescence techniques. The result in this experiments showed the significant difference between TO-, and CVF-treated animals in the degree of disappearence of IC in the kidney lesions. The undetectable amount of IC (especially BSA) was remained in the renal tissue of TO-treated animals. This fact indicated that complement might act to solubilize the IC deposited in the tissue in vivo also.