Product Description

Natural human C3a is prepared by cleavage of human C3 protein by a human C3 convertase. C3a is a member of the anaphylatoxin family of three proteins (C3a, C4a and C5a) produced by the activation of complement.It is an unglycosylated polypeptide containing 77 amino acids with a molecular mass of 9,089 daltons.Many of the biological functions of C3a are similar to those of C5a, but C3a is approximately 10- to 20-fold less active per microgram than C5a. C3a mediates many inflammatory responses including smooth muscle contraction, vasodilation, increased vascular permeability, and release of histamine from mast cells and basophils (Law, S.K.A. and Reid, K.B.M. (1995)). In contrast to C5a, C3a does not exhibit significant neutrophil stimulating activities and does not induce chemotaxis, granule release or superoxide production.C3a acts through the C3a Receptor (C3aR) which is a G-protein coupled receptor found widely distributed on peripheral tissues, lymphoid cells (neutrohphils, monocyes, and eosinophils) and in the central nervous system (astrocytes, neurons and glial cells) (Law, S.K.A. and Reid, K.B.M. (1995)).These activities of C3a are inactivated by removal of the C-terminal arginine and this occurs rapidly in plasma due to the action of carboxypeptidase N (Meuller-Ortiz, S.L., et al. (2009)).

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Complement Technology的C1是级联反应中的第一个补体成分，称为补体经典途径。C1与抗原结合的抗体（免疫复合物）结合并被其激活，从而产生引发级联反应的蛋白酶。C1实际上是钙依赖性复合物中结合在一起的三种不同蛋白质（C1q，C1r和C1s）的非共价复合物。C1q通过其六个臂中的两个或多个与IgG或IgM的Fc结构域结合。多臂与免疫复合物的结合被认为会引入压力，从而导致复合物中的两个C1r蛋白（蛋白酶酶原）自身激活，从而产生两种活性的C1r丝氨酸蛋白酶（Morikis，D.和Lambris，JD（2005））。 。这些激活的C1r亚基裂解并激活复合物中的两个C1s蛋白酶酶原。活化的C1裂解补体成分C4，释放出C4a，并启动C4b与活化表面的共价连接。活化的C1也切割C2，并且C2的较大片段结合至表面附着的C4b，形成C4b，C2a，其为经典途径的C3 / C5转化酶。