Activation of complement at plasma-air or serum-air interface of rabbits.

The possibility of the air-plasma interface giving rise to complement activation is investigated. After incubation of the plasma of a group of rabbits with zymosan and measurement of the degree of autologous polymorphonuclear leukocyte aggregation that follows the injection of a sample of the incubated plasma into a leukocyte suspension, it is found that the rabbits can be divided into two groups, sensitive and insensitive, depending on the degree of leukocytes aggregation. For the sensitive group it is found that both the plasma-air interface and the serum-air interface give rise to significant leukocyte aggregation. If the animal is decomplemented before the plasma is incubated in the presence of the air interface, there is no longer any significant leukocyte aggregation. It would appear that the complement system is activated by the presence of the air interface in plasma, but that fibrinogen does not play a pivotal role in the process.