Lecture 16; Immune System In health Diagnosis Flashcards
What is precipitation?
It is the formation of Ag:Ab complexes
What allows immune complexes to form?
Multi-valency of Ag and AB. (bivalency)
The size of immune complexes is determined by the concentration of Ag and number of epitopes.
Describe the precipitation curve;
Protein precipitated vs Antigen added
- Antibody excess is to the left
- Equivalence
- Ag excess
Therefore the curve has kinetics
What drives the kinetics of the precipitation curve?
The kinetics are driven by the concentrations
How is the zone of equivilence reached in the precipitation curve?
AB must remain constant and Ag increased.
What is Nephelometry?
Measures light at 90 degrees to incidence (i.e refracted) of the test tube containing Ag:AB complexes
Quantifies the amount of Ab
What is Turbidity?
Measures light passing straight through the test tube containing Ag:AB complexes
Quantifies the amount of Ab
The solution of AgAB goes turbid (insoluable precipitate)
What does nephelometry and turbidity rely on?
Ag:AB complexes forming an insoluble precipitate
Whats an example where the nephelometry and turbidity measurements may be used?
Quantitate the antibodies against DNA in SLE patients
How does agglutination work?
AB are polyvalent 2+ binding sites for the same antigen.
Large particles i.e RBC, bacteria etc have many antigens / epitopes on the surfaces. They can therefore be bound by many AB
= Agglutination
What specifically is agglutination?
Mixture of antigens and antibodies that form an interlacing network. This stops the particles from moving around freely (agglutination)
Haemagglutination when RBC are used
Antibodies that agglutinate RBC are also known as;
Agglutinins (IgM more effective than IgG because 10 v 2 binding sites)
What are some variations of agglutination?
Antigens can be artificially coated onto RBC in a process known as tanning
Alternatively this can also be done to microscopic latex beads
i.e Latex beads coated in IgG for RF assay
How are polyclonal antibodies produced?
Antisera is produced by immunising a mouse against a particular antigen a number of times. The responding B cells will proliferate into plasma cells and produce an array of antibodies against the epitopes of the antigen.
Thus the antiserum collected will contain an array of antibodies with varying affinities for the set of antigen determinants for the antigen (polyclonal antibodies)
What is one method of producing monoclonal antibodies?
Via a hybridoma
How are monoclonal antibodies produced in a hybridoma?
- Activated B cells are taken from the spleen of an immunised mouse and fusing them with myeloma cells in culture to produce hybridomas