DNA Degradation in Mammalian Cells Following Complement-Mediated Cytolysis

Summary Immune cytotoxic damage of Chinese hamster cells in tissue culture leads to enzymatic degradation of target cell DNA, which results in a greater than 10-fold reduction in molecular weight of the single-stranded DNA fragments. The amount of DNA degradation is a function of antiserum concentration and correlates with lethal injury as measured by loss of colony-forming ability.