Precipitation vs Agglutination Reaction
Treatment
of infectious diseases is dependent upon their correct diagnosis.
Antigen-antibody reactions are techniques using which antigens and
antibodies are measured. Among these antigen-antibody reactions,
serological reactions are in vitro reactions that are most popular
methods for diagnosis of diseases and for identification of antigens and
antibodies. Precipitation reactions and agglutination reactions are
some of the common examples of these serological reactions. There are
differences in these tests that will be explained in this article.
Mixing
of antibodies with their matching antigens on a surface such as animal
cell, erythrocytes, or bacteria results in antibodies cross linking the
particles forming visible clumps. This reaction is termed as
agglutination. This serological reaction is very similar to
precipitation reaction though both are highly specific depending upon
specific antibody and antigen pair. The main difference between these
two serological reactions pertains to the size of antigens. In the case
of precipitation, antigens are soluble molecules while in the case of
agglutination; antigens are large, insoluble molecules.
Another
difference between precipitation and agglutination is that
agglutination reaction is more sensitive than precipitation reaction
because a lot of soluble antigens and antibody molecules are required to
form a visible precipitation reaction. However, it is possible to make a
precipitation reaction sensitive by converting it into agglutination
reaction. This can be achieved by attaching soluble antigens to large,
inert carriers such as erythrocytes or latex beads. In clinical
medicine, agglutination reactions have many applications. They can be
used to type blood cells for transfusion, for identification of
bacterial cultures and to detect the presence of a specific antibody in
the serum of the patient. Agglutination is primary used to check if a
patient has a bacterial infection or not.
Agglutination reaction vs Precipitation reaction
• Agglutination reaction and
precipitation reaction have great importance in immunology as they are
serological reactions that help in the detection of bacterial infection
in the serum of a patient.
• Major difference between precipitation and agglutination is the size of antigens involved.
• Antigens are soluble in case of precipitation while they are insoluble in agglutination
• Agglutination is more sensitive than precipitation.
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