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COMPLEMENT PRACTICAL The term "complement" was applied by Ehrlich to describe the activity in serum, which could "complement" the ability to specific antibody to cause lysis of bacteria (Immunology, Roitt et al, 4th ed). The complement system plays a crucial role in host defence against infectious agents and in the inflammatory process. It consists of twenty plasma proteins that function either as enzymes or as binding proteins that act as a cascade, where each enzyme acts as a catalyst for the next, with C3 being the most important component. The complement system also includes multiple distinct cell-surface receptors that exhibit specificity for the physiological fragments of complement proteins and that occur on inflammatory cells and cells of the immune system. The consequences of complement activation are:> Opsonisation> Activation of leucocytes> Inflammation> Lysis of target cells There are three different mechanisms that the complement system uses for recognising...

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