A rapid, simple method for isolating SC5b-9 generated in human serum, and SC5b-8 generated in C9-depleted serum is described. The procedure leads to approximately 30% recovery of either complex and consists of polyethyleneglycol precipitation followed by 1 DEAE ion exchange chromatography and a sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation. The SC5b-8 complex is a water-soluble macromolecular of alpha-electrophoretic mobility. Apart from the absence of C9, it exhibits an identical SDS-gel electrophoresis polypeptide pattern as SC5b-9. A sedimentation coefficient of 19 to 20S and an effective molecular radius of approximately 10 nm were determined by sucrose density gradient centrifugation and gel filtration, respectively. From these values, a m.w. of 800 to 850,000 is tentatively assigned to the SC5b-8 complex. The S-protein was not dissociable from either SC5b-8 or SC5b-9 through treatment with desoxycholate and no alterations in the hydrodynamic properties of either complex were discernible after action of this detergent.
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Bhakdi et al. (1981) studied this question.