TISSUE DISTRIBUTION OF THE GUINEA-PIG DECAY-ACCELERATING FACTOR

MCA44 is a monoclonal antibody (mAb) to guinea-pig decay-accelerating factor (DAF) and, using this mAb, tissue distribution of guinea-pig DA F was studied by immunofluorescence. Guinea-pig DAF was found to be ex pressed not only on the vascular endothelium but also on different typ es of cells, such as the tubular epithelium of the kidney, epidermal c ells of the skin and synovial lining cells. As there was no significan t reduction in staining intensity with MCA44 following treatment with phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C, many guinea-pig DAF mol ecules expressed in these tissues may be of the transmembrane form.