Conglutinin-like factors in human saliva--relation to other salivary aggregating factors--.

This study was conducted to examine the relation between conglutinin-like factors and other bacterial aggregating factors in human saliva. Human and guinea pig complement intermediate cells (EAC4b,3b) were prepared by using and anticomplementary agent K-76 COONa. Conglutinin-like factors and agglutinins for sensitized sheep erythrocytes in parotid and whole saliva from seven subjects were examined. Whole saliva from the subjects with a periodontal disease showed a lower activity than that from the subjects with a clinically normal gingiva. It seems, therefore, that some strum component from the gingival crevice inhibit the aggregation of sensitized sheep erthrocytes by saliva as in the case of the conglutination of EAC4b, 3b cells. Conglutinin-like factors appeard over a wide region including both the void volume and the secretory IgA region in gel filtration of human whole saliva on Sepharose 4B. The void volume fractions contained a high conglutinin-like factor activity but no Iga activity. These data suggest that conglutinin-like factors are not polymers of IgA but complexes of glycoproteins or those on which IgA is bound furthermore.