agglutination

Examples of agglutination in the following topics:

• Agglutination Reactions

  • Agglutination is the visible expression of the aggregation of antigens and antibodies.
  • Agglutination reactions apply to particulate test antigens that have been conjugated to a carrier.
  • Various methods of agglutination are used in diagnostic immunology and these incude latex agglutination, flocculation tests, direct bacterial agglutination, and hemagglutination.
  • Direct bacterial agglutination uses whole pathogens as a source of antigen.
  • Describe how agglutination reactions can be used to assess the presence of antibodies in a specimen

• Typing and Cross-Matching for Transfusions

  • Cross-matching involves mixing a sample of the recipient's serum with a sample of the donor's red blood cells and checking if the mixture agglutinates, or forms clumps.
  • If agglutination is not obvious by direct vision, blood bank technicians check for agglutination with a microscope.
  • If agglutination occurs, that particular donor's blood cannot be transfused to that particular recipient.
  • Red blood cells can agglutinate if the serum contains antibodies against the expressed proteins.
  • In this image, the blood serum contains anti-A3 antibodies, which attack and agglutinate type A blood.

• Precipitation Reactions

  • Precipitation reactions differ from agglutination reactions in the size and solubility of the antigen and sensitivity.
  • Precipitation reactions are less sensitive than agglutination reactions but remain gold standard serological techniques.

• Cultivation of Specimen

  • Serum can be directly used in agglutination, precipitation, complement fixation, fluorescent microscopy, and enzyme-linked assays.

• Erythroblastosis Fetalis (Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn)

  • If agglutination occurs, the indirect Coombs test is positive.
  • If this produces agglutination of RBCs, the direct Coombs test is positive, a visual indication that antibodies (and/or complement proteins) are bound to the surface of red blood cells.

• Babylonian Culture

  • A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be written in the old agglutinative language of Sumer.