A comparative study on urinary complement C5b-9 complex excretion in four nephritis models of rats

AIM: To explore the significance of measuring urinary complement C5b-9 complex in various types of immune complex (IC) nephritis models of rats. METHODS: The four models of rats, namely, passive Heymann nephritis (PHN), anti-thymocyte serum nephritis(ATSN), anti-glomerular basement membrane nephritis (AGBMN) and chronic serum disease nephritis (CSDN) were reproduced. Then, the contents of complement C5b-9 complex in plasma and urine of the rats were detected with sandwich ELISA. And the deposits of C5b-9 complex in glomeruli of the rats were examined by ABC immunohistochemistry staining. CONCLUSION: Urinary C5b-9 complex excretion could be taken as one of several sensitive immunologic parameters in diagnosing of PHN and in distinguishing PHN from other type of nephritis.