FIG. 3.

E. coli-induced complement activation and effect of complement inhibitors. (A) Whole blood from two pigs was incubated at 37°C with different amounts of E. coli for 2 h. The readout was the amount of the TCC determined using an ELISA. The means of the two experiments are shown. For an explanation of T0 and T120 see the legend to Fig. 2. AU, arbitrary units. (B) Whole blood from two pigs was preincubated for 5 min with different doses (x axis) of VCP, anti-CD14, or HSA as a control. A fixed dose of 10⁸ E. coli bacteria/ml whole blood was then added, and the samples were incubated for 30 min at 37°C. The readout was the amount of the TCC determined using an ELISA. The means and ranges of two separate experiments are shown. (C) Porcine whole blood was preincubated with VCP, SPICE, and a control (HSA) for 5 min. A fixed dose of 10⁸ E. coli bacteria/ml whole blood was then added, and the samples were incubated for 30 min at 37°C. The readout was the amount of TCC determined using an ELISA. The results of one representative experiment are shown.