Clearance rate in relation to agglutinins for gelatin-stabilized colloid in the rat

¹ Department of Anatomy, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York

Intravascular clearance rates of gelatin-stabilized gold were compared with circulating titers of gelatin agglutinins in rats at increasing time intervals after blockading injections of gelatin-stabilized gold and S. marcescens endotoxin. The degree and duration of reticuloendothelial system (RES) blockade against the homologous colloid were directly related to the circulating levels of gelatin agglutinins. In contrast, plasma agglutinins were not decreased in endotoxin-induced blockade against the gelatin-stabilized colloid. In a further experiment, the plasma response to blockading injections of colloidal thorium dioxide, iron oxide, and zymosan was characterized by a transient increase in gelatin agglutinins suggesting the nonspecific release of opsonins from an extravascular source. The findings indicated that clearance rates of gelatin-stabilized colloids were dependent on the total available opsonin in the rat rather than the total circulating opsonin. It is suggested that RES blockade is effected by the prior nonspecific depletion of opsonins from an extravascular reserve which is the major component of the total available opsonin.