Studies on the Production of the Complement Fixing Factor in Reaction to Autologous Liver Tissue

Hepatic proteins were demonstrated in the sera of rats given thioacetamide. These hepatic proteins remained in the blood for 3 to 4 days. At such times, when hepatic proteins had disappeared from the blood, complement fixing factors reacting with the saline extracts of both autologous and homologous rat livers were found in the sera from the rats, and disappeared by the tenth day. In rats which had been given weekly injections of thioacetamide for a month and this followed by a maintenance injection, it was found that complement fixing factor appeared sporadically in low titer. Complement axing factor may be related to IgM. After the thioacetamide injection severe hepatic necrosis and fibrosis were found in all rats, but this damage was completely repaired within 2 months except for a slight fatty infiltration. Complement fixing autoantibodies may be an immunological response to the hepatic proteins which were released following acute hepatic damage.