Tissue suspension agglutination: a simple method to screen species-specific and organ-specific reactions

Agglutination tests with preparations of parenchymatous organs were developed. The tissue suspensions were dried at room temperature after they had been spread as a very thin layer on a glass plate, or otherwise, they were lyophilized. The dried preparations were pulverized and then prepared as stable suspensions in saline. The agglutination test was conducted on a slide by mixing one drop of the tested serum at a convenient dilution with one drop of tissue powder suspension. Agglutination in the form of readily discernible clumps could be assessed after 1-10 min. By means of this procedure, species-specific reactions were studied using suspensions of kidneys of various species. Organ-specific reactions were noted with suspensions of brain and thyroid. Agglutination of thyroid powder was observed with rabbit anti-rabbit thyroid sera as well as with many, albeit not all, sera of patients with Hashimoto's disease.