Thereafter, 100 μL of rabbit anti-goat IgG–HRP conjugate (1 : 3000 dilutions) was added. The plate was kept at room temperature for 90 min. The unbound conjugate was removed, and the wells were washed as before. Freshly prepared OPD (100 μL/well) was added, and the reaction was stopped after 5 min by adding 100 μL of 2·5 m H2SO4. The absorbance was measured at 490 nm in a Bio-Rad Model 680 microplate reader. The effect of H.c-C3BP on complement activity was measured by determining the lysis of sensitized sheep erythrocytes and formation of membrane attack complex (MAC). The erythrocyte lysis was determined essentially as described earlier [17] by measuring the release of haemoglobin at 415 nm from

ruptured erythrocytes due to complement this website action. In brief, sheep blood was collected in acid citrate and centrifuged at 400 g for 10 min (Remi

R8C, Remi Sales and Engineering Ltd., Mumbai, India). The plasma and buffy coat layer were discarded, and the packed RBCs were washed three times with normal saline. One volume of saline-washed RBC was mixed with one volume of 1 : 250 diluted decomplemented (at 56°C for 30 min) rabbit anti-sheep RBC antiserum (a kind gift from Dr. Tapas Goswami, Immunology Section, IVRI, Izatnagar) and incubated at 37°C for 30 min. The sensitized cells were washed three times with normal saline, with centrifugation at 400 g for 10 min. After the final wash, 2% cell suspension was prepared with saline containing 1 mm CaCl2. In initial experiments, 25 μL of normal rabbit serum gave appreciable cell lysis and was chosen for the assay. GSK126 The sensitized cells (100 μL) were incubated with 25 μL C-X-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CXCR-7) rabbit

serum in a total volume of 200 μL prepared with saline–calcium for an hour and further at 4°C for at least 4 h. For assessing the effect of H.c-C3BP, varying concentrations of protein were added to rabbit serum in saline–calcium and incubated at 4°C for an hour, followed by the addition of sensitized cells and further incubation. Control wells in triplicate with no serum, no protein, but 100 μL of saline–calcium and cells were included as negative control. Positive control wells had 100 μL of distilled water and cells. After incubation, 150 μL of the supernatant from each well was carefully aspirated and transferred to wells of a flat-bottomed microtitre plate, and the optical absorbance was measured at 415 nm. The effect of H.c-C3BP on complement C3 activation (MAC formation) was studied with modifications of earlier method [18]. The wells of a microtitre plate were coated with 100 μL of 10 μg/mL LPS in carbonate–bicarbonate buffer (100 mm, pH 9·6) and incubated at 4°C overnight. After washings, 100 μL of denatured gelatin in PBS was added and kept at room temperature for 90 min. After washings, 100 μL of fresh goat serum (1%) diluted in 10 mm Tris (pH 7·4) and 120 mm NaCl containing varying concentrations of H.c-C3BP (3·125–12·5 μg/mL) was added. The serum–H.