Phagocytosis as a Surface Phenomenon. III. Influence of C1423 on the Contact Angle and on the Phagocytosis of Sensitized Encapsulated Bacteria

Abstract

It has earlier been shown that specific anticapsular antibody increases the contact angle of encapsulated bacteria to a higher level than that of phagocytes, which makes phagocytosis possible. It was also shown that complement increases the contact angle and the phagocytosis of sensitized encapsulated bacteria even further.In this work it was demonstrated that the complement (C) components C1, C4, C2 and C3 together cause a marked increase of the contact angle, as well as of the phagocytosis of sensitized Escherichia coli 055 (EcAb). C components from C5 to C9 had no further influence on either the contact angle or the phagocytosis of EcAb.