Abstract
Summary
1. An improved macroscopical agglutination test for the detection of agglutinins against human spermatozoa is described. 2. The test employs an antigen of actively motile spermatozoa, and a final concentration of 2.5% gelatin to increase the viscosity of the medium. 3. The viscous gelatin medium prevents dissolution of the weakly bound sperm agglutinates in the higher antiserum dilutions, and retards sedimentation so as to render resuspension unnecessary. 4. The new method appears to be highly sensitive and specific. Agglutinative titers ranging from 1:16,000 to 1:256,000 with a mean of about 1:60,000 have been obtained with 7 anti-human-sperm rabbits′ sera. These titers are over 100-fold higher than those obtained with the usual agglutinative technics. 5. The possible applications of the test are suggested.
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