The complement profile in relation to the "reactor" state: a study in the immediate post-partum period

C56 (activated "reactor") could be generated by adding zymosan to only nineteen out of the fifty serum samples obtained from southern Chinese women 3 to 5 days after a normal spontaneous delivery. As a group, post-partum sera showed a 25% increase in total haemolytic complement, an almost two-fold increase in haemolytic C5, C4 and C8 plus C9 activity, a 50% increase in antigenic C3 and haemolytic C2, C1 and factor B activity, a less than 20% increase in haemolytic C6 and C7 activity, and a 20% decrease in factor D and C1 inhibitor activity. Consequently, their C5:C7 ratios were significantly elevated. This finding supports, in part, the theory that the "reactor" state or ability to generate C56 depends on a relative excess of C56 over C7. However, comparison of the complement profile between sera with and those without "reactor" activity did not reveal any difference, except a greater elevation of C5 in the latter. It appears possible that a grossly excessive level of C5 may, in fact, be unfavourable to the generation of C56.