Baker K C, Nicklin S, Miller K
Food Chem Toxicol. 1986 Sep;24(9):891-5. doi: 10.1016/0278-6915(86)90315-7.
A study has been made of the nature of the interaction between complement and carrageenan, which has been widely reported to inhibit haemolytic complement activity both in vivo and in vitro. Using modified haemolytic complement-fixation tests, the degree of complement consumption by various forms of carrageenan was measured in whole human and rat sera. The median effective concentrations of the carrageenans studied were found to lie in the range 3-300 micrograms/ml for the classical pathway and 500-7800 micrograms/ml for the alternative pathway and were unrelated to sulphate content, as determined by energy dispersive X-ray analysis. It was also found that carrageenan-coated sheep erythrocytes were lysed by complement. This activity was suppressed by ethylene glycol-bis-(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid, which inhibits the classical, but not the alternative pathway, providing conclusive evidence that carrageenan preferentially activates the classical pathway. This finding may help in elucidating the inflammatory reaction induced by carrageenan.
人们对补体与角叉菜胶之间相互作用的性质进行了一项研究。角叉菜胶在体内和体外均广泛报道可抑制溶血补体活性。使用改良的溶血补体固定试验，在全人类和大鼠血清中测量了各种形式的角叉菜胶对补体的消耗程度。研究发现，所研究的角叉菜胶的半数有效浓度，经典途径为3 - 300微克/毫升，替代途径为500 - 7800微克/毫升，且与通过能量色散X射线分析测定的硫酸盐含量无关。还发现用角叉菜胶包被的绵羊红细胞会被补体溶解。这种活性被乙二醇双（β - 氨基乙醚）-N，N，N'，N'-四乙酸抑制，该物质抑制经典途径而非替代途径，这提供了确凿证据表明角叉菜胶优先激活经典途径。这一发现可能有助于阐明角叉菜胶诱导的炎症反应。
