THE IMMUNOELECTROSYNERESIS INHIBITION METHOD FOR THE DETECTION OF HEPATITIS B ANTIGEN

The immunoelectrosyneresis inhibition method (ESI) was devised at our laboratory. The procedure is based on the principle that the conventional electrosyneresis (ES) is carried out after the HB antigen might be contained in specimen serum absorbs the HB antibody contained in anti-HB serum reagent. The anti-HB serum reagent has a titer of 1:16 against standard HB antigen reagent by the ES. One hundred μl of the specimen serum is mixed with 10μl of the anti-HB serum and incubated for 30 minutes at 37°C. Then the mixture is used for the ES as the antiserum against the standard HB antigen reagent which has a titer of 1:8 by the ES method, diluted from single donor serum contained high titer HB antigen. The absence of a pretipitation line indicates that HB antigen is present in the specimen serum. This method is easy to perform the HB antigen screening and overcomes the problem of the prozone phenomenon due to antigen excess. This is more sensitive than the conventional ES, and has ability to detect as many HB antigen as the complement fixation method (CF) does. And also, this method can eliminate the false positive reaction by the CF. The precipitation lines of this method always sharp and clear and the identification of HB antigen in the specimen is accurately performed. It is suggested that ESI may be used together with the other method for the blood donor screening from a viewpoint of double check.