Concerning the Mechanism of Complement Action

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Abstract
Summary and Conclusions: Cells containing the 1st, 2nd, and 4th components (EA C′1,4,2) of guinea pig complement are capable of hydrolyzing p-toluene sulfonyl l arginine methyl ester (TAMe). Unsensitized cells treated with complement, or sensitized cells not so treated, do not have this capability. The action of EA C′1,4,2 on TAMe was shown to have the characteristics of an enzyme reaction. A quantitative correlation between changes in the C′1 and TAMe esterase activity of EA C′1,4,2 has been found, whether the changes have been caused by variations in source and concentration of hemolysin, source of sheep red cells, amount of C′1 used to form the cells, incubation with different diisopropyl fluophosphate concentrations, or incubation with various concentrations of ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid. TAMe has been shown to protect the C′1 activity on sensitized cells against inhibition by diisopropyl fluophosphate. It is concluded that C′1 is a TAMe esterase. It is further suggested that C′1 is another example of a protease with TAMe esterase activity.

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