Niche describes a specific Complement fixation test
The complement fixation test is an immunological medical test looking for evidence of infection. It tests for the presence of either specific antibody or specific antigen in a patient’s serum. It uses sheep red blood cells (sRBC), anti-sRBC antibody and complement, plus specific antigen (if looking for antibody in serum) or specific antibody (if looking for antigen in serum).
If either the antibody or antigen is present in the patient’s serum, then the complement is completely utilized, so the sRBCs are not lysed. But if the antibody (or antigen) is not present, then the complement is not used up, so it binds anti-sRBC antibody, and the sRBCs are lysed.
The Wassermann test is one form of complement fixation test.
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