Immunological Testing Flashcards

ELISA testing

Question	Answer		Article
What does the acronym ELISA stand for?	Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay		Link to Article
What type of ELISA requires all the reagents to be added at once?	Homogenous		Link to Article
What are the five basic steps of an ELISA test?	Adsorption of antigen/antibody onto solid phase Addition of chosen sample and reagents Incubation and washing Addition of enzyme-labelled antigen/antibody Addition of specific substrate		Link to Article

Immunofluorescence

Question	Answer		Article
The adsorption of light by a molecule is known as what?	Excitation		Link to Article
What are the fluorescent dyes commonly known as?	Fluorochromes		Link to Article
What are the advantages of indirect staining?	Brighter fluorescence One preparation can be used to test many serum samples Relative expressions of different antigens in the same cell can be tested Loss of antibody during conjugation is limited		Link to Article
What technique is used to provide a quantitative measure of immunofluorescence?	Flow cytometry		Link to Article

Radioimmunoassay

Question	Answer		Article
What are radioimmunoassays commonly used to detect?			Link to Article
What is the most common isotope used for radioimmunoassay?	Iodine-125		Link to Article
Why is it important to measure the amount of antibody that binds to 50% of the labelled antigen?	Ensures the number of epitopes present exceeds number of antibody-binding sites		Link to Article
What are the disadvantages of the radioimmunoassay?	Substances used are radioactive Gamma radiation requires special counting equipment Iodine naturally accumulates in the thyroid gland		Link to Article

Agglutination

Question	Answer		Article
What are the antibodies that produce agglutination known as?	Agglutinins		Link to Article
What constitutes the end of the agglutination test?	The last tube showing distinct agglutination		Link to Article
What does the titre represent?	The number of antibodies per unit volume of serum		Link to Article
What is the prozone effect?	An inhibition of agglutination caused by an excess of antibodies		Link to Article
What agglutination test is often used to test for rhesus disease?	Coombs test		Link to Article

Originally funded by the RVC Jim Bee Award 2007