Lyle T. Sinor

A solid‐phase antiglobulin test

A solid‐phase antiglobulin test was developed as an alternative to hemagglutination for compatibility testing. The solid‐phase endpoint of red cell adherence allowed results to be read visually or spectrophotometrically. This method was easier to perform than a hemagglutination antiglobulin test and had increased sensitivity without loss of specificity.

Solid‐phase ABO grouping and Rh typing

A solid‐phase adherence method (SPAM) for ABO grouping and Rh typing of red cells (RBCs) has been developed. Adherence reactions were read spectrophotometrically and interpreted by a computer. The SPAM had a 99.6 percent correlation with conventional microplate agglutination methods for ABO grouping and Rh typing. The increased sensitivity of the SPAM was demonstrated because it directly detected Du‐positive RBCs and weak subgroups of A and B.

The evolution of pretransfusion testing: from agglutination to solid-phase red cell adherence tests

Hospital transfusion services and blood centers still use manual hemagglutination tests for most of their serological procedures. Automation of hemagglutination reactions has proven to be difficult, primarily because hemagglutination lacks an objective endpoint which can be easily interpreted by inexpensive instruments. Alternatively, solid-phase red cell adherence assays for ABO cell and serum grouping, Rh typing, red cell and platelet antibody screening, red cell and platelet crossmatching, IgA deficiency screening, hepatitis B surface antigen, and HIV antibody screening have been developed. The performance of these assays compares favorably with current hemagglutination and enzyme immunoassay methods. All of these tests share a common objective endpoint of adherence or nonadherence of indicator red cells. This uniformity allows easy interpretation of results visually, spectrophotometrically, or by image analysis. The latter technique has the potential to revolutionize the reading and interpretation of all agglutination tests. Solid-phase red cell adherence tests in microplates are ideal for batch processing large numbers of specimens. However, adherence tests are not restricted to this format. Therefore, blood grouping dipsticks have been produced, which permit testing of individual blood samples even outside of the laboratory.

Identification of Rho(D) antigen in polyacrylamide gels by an enzyme-linked immunoassay.

Human erythrocyte membranes were solubilized in sodium dodecyl sulfate at 100 degree C and subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The gels were sliced into segments and each segment was incubated with anti-Rho(D) IgG, washed, and then incubated with goat anti-human IgG covalently linked to alkaline phosphatase. Para-nitrophenyl phosphate was added to each slice and the absorbance of the solution surrounding each slice was measured at 405 nm. This technique demonstrated that the Rho (D) antigen is a protein with a mol, wt between 13, 000 and 30,000. This method should be applicable to the investigation of other membrane-bound antigens.