Abstract
Conclusions
The dialysis of serum containing Rh antibodies permits the division of such a serum into two fractions, the precipitate, containing mostly globulins, and the supernatant, containing the albumin fraction and a certain amount of the globulin fraction. The sediment, when dissolved in physiological saline solution using one-tenth of the original volume of the serum prior to treatment, is shown to contain the major portion of the Rh agglutinins. A rather potent Rh testing serum can be obtained by this procedure, where in many instances anti-Rh sera contain agglutinins of such weak potency that the native serum would not be strong enough to serve as a diagnostic test serum. The method is especially recommended for this purpose. The “incomplete” or “blocking antibody” has been found to be associated to a large extent with the supernatant, indicating that at least a partial separation of the Rh agglutinin from the “blocking antibody” has been accomplished by dialysis. The effectiveness of the resulting Rh agglutination by the globulin fraction is therefore not only attributed to simple concentration of the Rh agglutinins, but also to the partial removal of the Rh “blocking antibody.” The isoagglutinins anti-A and anti-B are not concentrated to the same extent as the Rh agglutinins which constitutes an additional advantage of the globulin preparation over the untreated serum.
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