Agglutination is the clumping of particles, important in the immune system. Antibodies bind to antigens, marking them for destruction by agglutination. Hemagglutination is used in blood typing and to determine the concentration of bacteria or viruses in a sample.
In biology, agglutination refers to the grouping of particles. This process is especially important as part of the immune system, the response process that a body uses to fight disease. Hemagglutination, the clumping of red blood cells, has special applications in medicine, where it is used to determine blood type and find the concentration of infecting viruses or bacteria in the bloodstream.
Foreign bacteria or viruses that enter the body contain specific components called antigens, which trigger an immune response in the host. White blood cells in the body produce proteins known as antibodies in response to the presence of antigens. Antibodies bind to antigens through a structural mechanism similar to a key and lock and can neutralize the antigen directly or mark it for destruction by the immune system.
Agglutination is a way that antibodies mark antigens for destruction. Antibodies have at least two sites where an antigen can bind, so they are capable of binding with more than one bacteria or virus. When this happens, the invading particles begin to agglutinate, or form clumps, through a network of antibodies. The clots eventually become too large to stay in solution in the bloodstream and fall out of solution.
Once the clumps of particles are large enough, they become easy prey for phagocytes, a type of white blood cell that ingest foreign material. Phagocytes ingest and destroy the clot, neutralizing the threat of disease. In this way, agglutination allows the body to disarm and remove harmful invading particles.
Hemagglutination, in contrast, is not a natural process in the body, but is instead used to perform analyzes and testing procedures in molecular biology. Blood type is determined through this process. In blood typing, specific antibodies are added that bind to specific types of red blood cells. If the antibody binds to red blood cells in a sample, agglutination occurs and blood grouping can be confirmed based on the antibody used.
The concentration of bacteria or viruses in a sample can sometimes be determined using a test called a hemagglutination test. Some bacteria and viruses contain compounds that allow them to bind to red blood cells, creating a network of clots. In the assay, a diluted sample of virus is added to a diluted blood cell sample and agglutination is allowed to occur for approximately 30 minutes. The concentration of the virus can be determined by counting the number of clumps or networks formed in the mixed sample.
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