Complement-Mediated Solubilization of Immune Precipitates Prepared with Antibodies of Different Avidity

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Abstract
Complement-mediated solubilization of immune precipitates prepared with HSA and rat IgG anti-HSA has been quantitatively analyzed. Early and late IgG anti-HSA antibodies were obtained 27 and 49 days after immunization, respectively. Immune precipitates prepared with early IgG anti-HSA were solubilized by rat serum to a larger extent than complexes prepared with late IgG anti-HSA. The affinities for HSA of the early and late antibodies were not significantly different. The quantitative differences in solubilization were neither due to differences in the Ab/Ag ratios of the immune precipitates, nor appeared to be brought about by changes in the distribution of the antibodies over the IgG subclasses. The avidity of the late IgG anti-HSA antibodies was higher than the avidity of the early IgG antibodies. Presumably, the avidity of the antibodies greatly affected the complement-mediated solubilization of the immune precipitates. In addition, the solubilization was found to be dependent on the conditions employed to prepare the immune precipitates.