What is the functional difference between young rabbit complement and 3-4 week rabbit complement ?
Young rabbit complement comes from rabbits that are from 8-10 weeks of age as opposed to the 3-4 week old rabbits. Newborn rabbits have almost no immunity when they are born but upon exposure to foreign antigens they begin to produce complement as a first line of defense. Sometime during the 5-6 week of life they begin to produce antibodies to their environment. Among those antibodies there are what is referred to as ‘heterophile’ antibody. In some sensitive assays the heterophile antibody reacts nonspecifically and will mask the specific reaction and cause false results. You may hear some technicians describe this phenomenon as the complement’s being ‘toxic’ to the cells. The 3-4 week old complement avoids this situation and is used in specific research projects. However, the 3-4 week old complement may not be ‘strong’ enough to bind weak antigens. This is why complement from 8-10 week old rabbits is used in tissue typing. For best results, it is wise to thaw in cool water, swirl to e
