Difference in clearance kinetics of particulate immune complexes and soluble aggregates of IgG in vivo.

In this study the similarities and differences in kinetics and site of clearance of particulate immune complexes and soluble aggregates of IgG (AIgG) were compared in rats. The rate of clearance of both antibody-coated erythrocytes (EA) and AIgG was dependent on the number of IgG molecules per EA or AIgG. Both probes were rapidly taken up by the liver. Whereas a minor part of the AIgG returned to the circulation as TCA-soluble breakdown products, a substantial part of the injected EA returned to the circulation as intact cells after 4 min. This rebound mechanism was shown to be complement (C)-dependent. Immediately after injection the injected EA bound C3 on their surface, whereafter the number of C3-bearing cells in the circulation rapidly decreased (T1/2 7.2 min). In C-depleted rats relatively more EA were taken up by the spleen than by the liver, in comparison with EA injected into normal rats (liver/spleen ratio in C-depleted rats 0.4 +/- 0.1; in normal rats 2.1 +/- 0.4). When C3 was bound and inactivated by preincubation of EA in vitro, a similar shift from liver to spleen (liver/spleen ratio 0.4 +/- 0.1) was observed. It is suggested that when the hepatic C receptors do not participate, the splenic Fc receptors become relatively more important in the clearance of EA from the circulation.