What are blood group reagents?
11 March 2015
Blood grouping reagents are solutions that can be used to determine ABO, Rhesus, Kell and MNS blood groups These classifications of human blood are all based on the presence or absence of certain antigens on the surface of red blood cells. The reagents can cause the agglutination (clumping) on the test red blood cells which carry a certain antigen. No clumping of the test red blood cells can indicate the absence of a certain antigen.
Determining blood types
There are 4 ABO blood group types, which are O, A, B and AB. The ABO blood group is determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens on the surface of red blood cells and by the presence or absence of certain antibodies in the blood plasma. The rhesus (Rh) reagents are used to detect the presence of the D antigen on the surface of red blood cells in humans. Anti-A, Anti-B and Anti-A,B reagents are used to determine the ABO blood group, while the different Anti-D reagents are used to determine the rhesus D type.
Identifying antigens
Other reagents such as Anti-C, Anti-c, Anti-E, Anti-e and Anti-K are used to determine the Rhesus-Kell phenotype of red blood cells in humans. These reagents are used to identify the presence of C, c, E, e and K antigens on the surface of the human red blood cells. These antigens are the third most potent at triggering an immune response in the blood, behind the ABO and Rh blood groups.
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