An assay for measuring the mannan-binding lectin pathway of complement activation in chickens.

To investigate the ability of chicken mannan-binding lectin (cMBL) to work as a complement activator, a heterogeneous ELISA test was developed, in which the deposition of human complement factor 4 (C4) was used as a measure of complement activation ability. Serum from different experimental chicken lines was tested. The correlation between serum cMBL concentrations and human C4 deposition was high (correlation = 0.8549, P < 0.0001). There was no difference in C4 deposition among sera from the chicken lines when calculated as C4 deposition relative to the cMBL concentration.