title: Double-immunodiffusion assay for detecting specific antibodies.
abstract: Double immunodiffusion owes its success to the unique nature of antibody-antigen interactions. When polyvalent antibodies with moderate-to-high intrinsic affinities are mixed with antigen at the right ratio (called the zone of equivalence) lattices of antibody-antigen complexes form and precipitate out of solution. When, as described in this unit, gradients of antigen and antibody are established by diffusion from adjacent wells in a bed of agar, a line of practically insoluble precipitation forms at the equivalence zone (precipitin lines).
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hornbeck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D000941:Antigens / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D005779:Immunodiffusion / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000936:Antigen-Antibody Complex; D000941:Antigens