Use of a low-ionic-strength medium in manual tests for antibody detection.

The present observations confirm the value of suspending red blood cells in a low-ionic-strength medium in the first stage of the indirect antiglobulin test; that is, during the period of incubation with antibody-containing serum. The main advantage of this procedure is to shorten the time of incubation. In this respect a low-ionic-strength medium appears to be superior to albumin as a suspending medium for the red blood cells. A further advantage is to increase the uptake of certain antibodies; this effect was pronounced with selected Rh antibodies believed to be of low affinity.