Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0341503 (bacterial peritonitis)
 1,303 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

To investigate the possibility that low complement concentrations in the plasma and ascites of patients with severe liver disease could be secondary to complement consumption, complement activation was studied in 32 patients with severe liver disease, 11 of whom had spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). In patients with SBP, plasma C3 and C4 were significantly lower than in uninfected patients (mean values 0.74 v 1.13 g/l, p less than 0.01 and 0.20 v 0.28 g/l, p less than 0.05 respectively). Plasma complement activation via the classical pathway, as shown by C4d/C4, was significantly increased in patients with SBP compared with uninfected patients (37.3 v 22.2, p less than 0.01) as was C3d/C3 (14.0 v 8.11, p less than 0.01), but there was no significant difference in Ba/B between SBP and uninfected patients. Ascitic C3 concentrations were higher in patients without SBP than in infected patients (0.37 v 0.08 g/l, p less than 0.05), as were factor B values (0.11 v 0.03 g/l, p less than 0.05). There was no significant difference in ascitic C4 concentrations in patients with SBP compared with uninfected patients (0.03 v 0.07 g/l). Although consumption of C3, as shown by C3d/C3 in ascites, was increased in infected patients compared with uninfected patients (79.1 v 36.1, p less than 0.05), there was no difference in ascitic complement activation between the groups for either the classical or alternative pathways. In SBP, decreased plasma C3 and C4 are primarily caused by increased activation of the classical pathway and not impaired hepatic synthesis. Activation and consumption of C3 is one factor causing the low ascitic C3 concentrations observed in SBP.
 ...
PMID:Activation of the classical complement pathway in spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. 156 47

We studied complement and immunoglobulin profiles on the serum and ascitic fluid of a patient before and during gram-negative spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP). During the infection, activation of the alternative complement pathway in ascitic fluid was manifested by a 35% reduction in functional activity and depression of both properdin and factor B concentrations to nondetectable levels. Activation of the complement cascade was also demonstrated by a 50% reduction in the C3 concentration and depression of total hemolytic complement. There was no evidence of complement activation of a functionally intact complement system in the ascitic fluid of cirrhotic patients. Complement consumption in ascitic fluid may predispose the cirrhotic to SBP.
 ...
PMID:Activation of the alternative complement pathway in ascitic fluid during spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. 674 61