The fate of injected human IgG in the mouse liver

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Abstract
1. Human IgG is stored in the form of remarkable droplets in the cytoplasm of mouse hepatocytes following intravenous injection. 2. The earliest protein uptake occurs within 1 minute after injection and droplets can be found up to 32 hours thereafter; 64 hours p.i. the foreign protein is no longer visible in hepatocytes. 3. Electron microscopy reveals that the uptake occurs by a process of "macropinocytosis". The resulting protein droplets fuse with primary lysosomes and are transformed into phagolysosomes. 4. At the same time as the phagolysosomes are formed the IgG-droplets loose their immunological activity--as early as 2 hours after injection.