Analysis of the complement activation in mice

Complement activation is an important immune mechanism in mice like in humans. Murine complement is also activated via three pathways, the classical, lectin, and alternative. Complement proteins are serine proteases; thus activation of complement is proteolytic cleavage of complement proteins, which are both soluble and deposited forms. Therefore, complement pathway activation can be assayed by measuring deposited cleaved complement proteins on materials that are known to activate each pathway. In this chapter, we describe how we assay activation of these three pathways in murine system.