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Agglutination is the clumping of particles. The wordagglutination comes from theLatinagglutinare (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.
This occurs in biology in two main examples:
Hemagglutination is the process by whichred blood cells agglutinate, meaning clump or clog. The agglutin involved in hemagglutination is calledhemagglutinin. Incross-matching,donor red blood cells and the recipient's serum or plasma are incubated together. If agglutination occurs, this indicates that the donor and recipient blood types areincompatible.
When a person producesantibodies against their own red blood cells, as incold agglutinin disease and otherautoimmune conditions, the cells may agglutinate spontaneously.[1] This is calledautoagglutination and it can interfere with laboratory tests such asblood typing and thecomplete blood count.[2][3]
Leukoagglutination occurs when the particles involved arewhite blood cells.
An example is the PH-L form ofphytohaemagglutinin.
Agglutination is commonly used as a method of identifying specific bacterial antigens and the identity of such bacteria, and therefore is an important technique in diagnosis.
Two bacteriologists,Herbert Edward Durham (1866-1945) andMax von Gruber (1853–1927), discovered specific agglutination in 1896. The clumping became known as Gruber-Durham reaction. Gruber introduced the term agglutinin (from the Latin) for any substance that caused agglutination of cells.
French physicianFernand Widal (1862–1929) put Gruber and Durham's discovery to practical use later in 1896, using the reaction as the basis for a test fortyphoid fever. Widal found that blood serum from a typhoid carrier caused a culture of typhoid bacteria to clump, whereas serum from a typhoid-free person did not. ThisWidal test was the first example of serum diagnosis.
Austrian physicianKarl Landsteiner found another important practical application of the agglutination reaction in 1900. Landsteiner's agglutination tests and his discovery of ABO blood groups was the start of the science ofblood transfusion andserology which has made transfusion possible and safer.
