Purification of the protease responsible for Complement activation.

[A] Chromatogram of Bothrops pirajai venom (50 mg) fractionated on a FPLC-GP-250 Plus system using a molecular exclusion column (Superose 12 10/300 GL) in 0.05 M ammonium bicarbonate buffer, pH 7.8. [B] SDS-PAGE of fractions screened by the ability to cleave component C3. [C] Chromatogram of the fraction with activity (P2) on a Superdex 75 10/300 GL column. [D] SDS-PAGE of fractions from Superdex 75 tested for the ability to cleave component C3. [E] SDS-PAGE followed by silver staining to assess the purity of P3, the fraction capable of cleaving C3.