The Effect of Adjuvant Amounts of Endotoxins on the Serum Hemolytic Complement Activity in Rabbits

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Abstract
Summary: An attempt was made to correlate the adjuvant effects of bacterial endotoxins with a decline in serum complement activity. Rabbits were injected intravenously with sheep red cell stromas with or without endotoxins, and their serum complement activity was followed at various intervals. Serum complement activity was found to decline over a period of hours after the injection of adjuvant amounts of endotoxin, the most marked depression occurring 6 hr after injection. Possible mechanisms behind this effect of endotoxin on serum complement activity have been discussed.