title: Rapid agglutination testing in an ultrasonic standing wave.
abstract: The time taken to perform diagnostic agglutination tests can be significantly reduced by applying an ultrasonic standing wave field to a droplet of reactants held in a capillary tube. Avian erythrocytes, bacteria and latex particles from commercially available test kits were agglutinated in 15 s, 5 min, and 1 min respectively. These times compare favourably with the times of 30 min, 4 h, and 8 min required for agglutination by the methods prescribed for the respective kits. No loss in sensitivity or specificity was observed with the ultrasonic method. A multi-test procedure is also described whereby a series of five droplets loaded in a single capillary can be tested in less than 4 min by drawing the capillary along the axis of the ultrasonic field of a ring transducer.
authors.affiliation: School of Pure and Applied Biology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, Cathays Park, UK.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Grundy
authors.forename: W E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Bolek
authors.forename: W T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Coakley
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benes
mesh_terms: D000371:Agglutination; D000372:Agglutination Tests / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007840:Latex; D008863:Microspheres; D011511:Proteus / Q000166:cytology; D014159:Transducers; D014422:Turkeys; D014465:Ultrasonics
chemical_list: D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D007840:Latex