Immunological properties of glomerular basement membrane antigens solubilized by elastase digestion.

Glomerular basement membrane (GBM) was solubilized by hog pancreas elastase and fractionated on Bio-Gel P-2. The composition and antigenic properties of elastase-solubilized GBM were compared with those of whole GBM. Elastase-solubilized bovine GBM (ES-BoGBM) and whole bovine GBM (BoGBM) showed similar amino acid and carbohydrate compositions, suggesting that neither the glycoprotein nor the collagen component of the GBM was selectively solubilized.

Induction of autoimmunity to antigens of the glomerular basement membrane in inbred Brown-Norway rats.

Induction of autoimmune antibodies against antigens of glomerular basement membrane (GBM) was studied in nine inbred strains of rats each with a different major histocompatibility complex H-1. Brown-Norway (BN) (H-1n), Lewis (H-1(1)), PVG/c (H-1c), AS2 (H-1f), AVN (H-1a), BD V (H-1d), DA (H-1a) and F344 (H-1(1)) rats were immunized with bovine GBM and Freund's complete adjuvent (CFA). A pronounced linear deposition of host IgG (IgG1 and IgG2a) along the GBM was found in BN rats.

Isolation and characterization of the third component of rat complement.

The third component of complement from rat plasma was isolated by precipitation with polyethyleneglycol in the presence of benzamidine, followed by chromatography of the precipitate on CM-cellulose, hydroxyapatite, and QAE A50-Sephadex, and gel-filtration on Sephadex G-200 superfine. C3 was isolated in its native form, as assessed by its specific functional activity and its immunoelectrophoretic mobility. The recovery of C3 was between 18 and 26%, and the final material was homogenous on SDS-PAGE analysis.