Background. Porcine erythrocytes express complement receptor 1-like (CR1-like), which is involved in immune adherence.
Methods. In this study, porcine erythrocyte samples were collected from fifty-five individual Landrace swine to characterize differences in porcine CR1-like. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to examine the porcine differences in CR1-like expression density and immunoprecipitation, SDS-PAGE and Western blot were performed to detect variations in porcine CR1-like molecular weights.
Results. Different mean fluorescence intensities (MFI) of porcine erythrocytes were identified in three groups as 33.016±2.889 (40.0%), 59.974±9.299 (45.5%) and 131.241±8.375 (14.5%). Under reduced condition, three porcine CR1-like molecular weight variants were identified as 85.280±0.935 kDa (9.09%), 123.939±2.752 kDa (14.55%) and 136.696±2.028 kDa (76.36%).
Discussion. CR1-like was dispersed on the surface of porcine erythrocytes and promoted immune adherence. There have been no reports on whether differences in the expression levels and/or molecular weights of CR1-like in erythrocytes represent diversity in different individuals, and if so, whether this diversity influences the immune adherence of erythrocytes and/or whether the diversity is associated with CR1-like polymorphisms. At present, five candidate genes that are related to the differences above were found. Research examining erythrocyte immune adherence and CR1-like genes is under way. These results will provide theoretical data for future studies of the immunological mechanism of CR1-like in porcine erythrocytes.