Lecture 7

Question 1

antibody

Answer 1

a class of serum proteins that are induced by exposing to an antigen and that binds specifically to the antigen / analyze forming an antibody / antigen complex

Question 2

antigen

Answer 2

a molecule that can be selectively bound by an antibody. not always immunogenic

Question 3

immunogenic

Answer 3

evoking an immune response

Question 4

antiserum

Answer 4

serum from an animal containing specific antibodies

Question 5

chromophore

Answer 5

a chemical that changes color, resulting from enzyme interaction with a substrate

Question 6

conjugate

Answer 6

formed by covalently coupling two molecules (ie antibody with a n enzyme)

Question 7

cross-reactivity

Answer 7

the ability of antibodies to react with other compounds other than the target antigen

Question 8

ELISA

Answer 8

Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) commonly used for environmental monitoring

Question 9

enzyme

Answer 9

protein that acts as a catalyst promoting biochemical reaction

Question 10

enzyme-conjugate

Answer 10

an enzyme that is covalently coupled to a protein such as an antibody or to a target analyte / hapten

Question 11

hapten

Answer 11

a small antigenic molecule that can bind to an antibody, does not induce antibody immune response

Question 12

IgG

Answer 12

a divalent Immunoglobulin-G antibody molecule

Question 13

Immunogen

Answer 13

a substance that can generate a strong immune response (antigen)

Question 14

monoclonal antibody

Answer 14

homogeneous antibody population produced by cloning a single B-cell line with identical selectivity and affinity

Question 15

polyclonal antibody

Answer 15

an antibody population with heterogeneous selectivity and affinity produced by many clones of B-cells

Question 16

substrate

Answer 16

a chemical that reacts with an enzyme

Question 17

titer

Answer 17

a dilution of a substance that produces a desired concentration (ie concentration of antibody in an immunoassay)

Question 18

anatomy of antibody

Answer 18

fab region (arms) -- contains the antigen binding site
Fc region (body) -- distinguishes class of antibody (how many classes) and unique to species

Question 19

antibody production

Answer 19

monoclonal antibodies – from a single active B cell clone

polyclonal antibodies – from many different active b cell clones

Question 20

competitive immunoassay

Answer 20

start with a labeled antigen reagent of a known concentration with an unlabeled sample with target antigen. The abundance of antigen specific capture antibodies. A low signal means that there is target antigen present in the sample. Incubate the unknown Antigen sample with the abundance of captured antibody. Introduce known labeled antigen. the higher the unknown antigen concentration, the lower the signal