C3 and C5-cleaving properdin enzymes formed on zymosan incubated with human serum: the decay and the regeneration of the enzymes.

Incubation os zymosan (Z) with normal human serum led to the formation of ZXhu, which had the abilities to cleave C3 and C5. Kinetic studies on ZXhu formation revealed that the amount of inactivated C5 by ZXhu, when expressed in site-forming unit (SFU), was much greater than that of inactivated C3. When ZXhu having limited C3 and C5-cleaving was incubated at 37 degrees C it decayed with a first order reaction completely in 120 min. At any stage of decay of ZXhu, the activities could be restored by the addition of both B and D, but not by the addition of B or D alone. Not D but B could be bound to the completely decayed ZXhu, and activation of bound B by D led to the regeneration of ZXhu.