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The word agglutination comes from the Latin agglutinare (glueing to). Agglutination is a reaction in which particles (as red blood cells or bacteria) suspended in a liquid collect into clumps usually as a response to a specific antibody. Agglutination(clumping) of red blood cells. This occurs in biology in two main examples:
Red cell agglutination can also occur in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria [2]: 13 [3] and warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia. [4]: 88 In cases of red cell agglutination, the direct antiglobulin test can be used to demonstrate the presence of antibodies bound to the red cells. [3]
Agglutination of the screening cells by the plasma, with or without the addition of anti-human globulin, indicates that an unexpected blood group antibody is present. If this occurs, further testing using more cells (usually 10–11) is necessary to identify the antibody.
Antigen-antibody interaction, or antigen-antibody reaction, is a specific chemical interaction between antibodies produced by B cells of the white blood cells and antigens during immune reaction. The antigens and antibodies combine by a process called agglutination.
If agglutination does not occur with either antibodies that bind to type A or type B antigens, then neither antigen is present on the blood cells, which means the blood is type O. [1] [2] In blood grouping, the patient's serum is tested against RBCs of known blood groups and also the patient's RBCs are tested against known serum types.
The agglutination of red blood cells is used in the Coombs test in diagnostic immunohematology to test for autoimmune hemolytic anemia. [ 25 ] In the case of red blood cells, transformed cells are known as kodecytes .
As a result, the blood of a host applied to a diagnostic kit causes the aggregation of the pathogenic particles due to the antigen-agglutinin interaction. Conversely, agglutination can also be used to identify new bacteria or cells with a specific antigen by exposing them to serum containing known agglutinins. [3]
It does this through several mechanisms: [citation needed] IgG-mediated binding of pathogens causes their immobilization and binding together via agglutination; IgG coating of pathogen surfaces (known as opsonization) allows their recognition and ingestion by phagocytic immune cells leading to the elimination of the pathogen itself;