Purification and partial amino acid sequence of classical anaphylatoxin from pig serum: identification with Des-Arg-C5a.

Complement was activated in hog serum and the biologically active peptide(s) derived from the fifth component of complement were purified. Treatment of the serum with yeast, without any precautions to inhibit serum arginine carboxypeptidase, allowed the recovery of only one active fraction, the classical anaphylatoxin; it was identified as des-Arg-C5a. When hog serum was activated with yeast in the presence of 1M epsilon-aminohexanoic acid (inhibitor of arginine carboxypeptidase), two active C5-derived fractions were obtained, C5a and des-Arg-C5a. A partial amino acid sequence of the classical anaphylatoxin (19 N-terminal and 12 C-terminal amino acids) has been elaborated. With one exception it is identical with hog C5a as far as that structure is known (12 N-, 3 C-terminal amino acids). The only difference is the C-terminal region: arginine, present in C5a, is absent from des-Arg-C5a which ends with ... Asn-Ile-Gln-Leu-Gly-OH. The finding that des-Arg-C5a, virtually free of any significant contamination with C5a, has considerable spasmogenic activity demonstrates that it is the classical anaphylatoxin, and that for spasmogenic activity arginine as the C-terminal amino acid is not absolutely essential.