Granulomatous lung disease by Thermoactinomyces vulgaris antigen in C5 deficient and sufficient mice.
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) is a granulomatous lung disease with pulmonary lymphocytic infiltration supposed to be caused by type III and type IV allergic mechanisms. In type III allergy, compliment activation plays an important role. In this study, we adopted the intranasal administration of the ultrasonified Thermoactinomyces vulgaris(Tv) antigen to mice, which causes granulomatous lung lesions. We used C5 (the fifth component of compliment) deficient B10D2/oSnJ mice and C5 sufficient B10D2/nSn control mice for the above murine model of HP to see if late components of compliment (C5-9) are concerned in the granuloma formation of HP. The result was that both C5 deficient and sufficient mice formed histologically similar granulomatous lung lesions with lymphocytic infiltration. Our data indicate that C5 is not necessary for the granulomatous lung lesions of HP by the Tv antigen.