Blood types, specificity

The method may be described briefly with the aid of a diagram. Plasma is adjusted to a pH of 7.2 addition of alcohol to a concentration of 8% precipitates fraction I, (mainly fibrinogen), which is centrifuged off. The supernatant is then brought to a pH of 6.9 and to an alcohol concentration of 25%. Precipitated fractions II and HI consist of p- and 7-globulins and contain all immunoproteins and blood-type specific isoagglutinins, in addition to part of the lipoproteins. 

O-Linked Oligosaccharides Are Responsible for Different Blood Group Types Specific Inhibitors and Mutants Are Used to Explore the Roles of Glycoprotein Carbohydrates Bacterial Cell Wall Synthesis... 

Forensic biochemists perform blood typing and enzyme tests on body fluids in cases involving assault, and also in paternity cases. Even tiny samples of blood, saliva, or semen may be separated by electrophoresis and subjected to enzymatic analysis. In the case of rape, traces of semen found on clothing or on the person become important evidence the composition of semen varies from person to person. Some individuals excrete enzymes such as acid phosphatase and other proteins that are seldom found outside seminal fluid, and these chemical substances are characteristic of their semen samples. The presence of semen may be shown by the microscopic analysis for the presence of spermatozoa or by a positive test for prostate specific antigen. 

Hemagglutinins may be of several types (a) nonspecific lectins that agglutinate cells without regard to their origin (either species, or blood type), (b) lectins that preferentially agglutinate the cells of one or several kinds of animals, or (c) blood-group-specific lectins. 

Wheat-germ agglutinin (WGA) is not a blood-group-specific hemagglutinin it will agglutinate all types of human erythrocytes, as well as a variety of normal and neoplastic animal cells. 

The lima-bean agglutinin holds the distinction of being the first lectin shown to exhibit blood-group specificity. Although Boyd initially observed, in 1945, that the lima-bean lectin specifically agglutinated type A erythrocytes,2,4 he did not publish his observation until 1949,... 

In vivo gene expression in animals has been obtained after introduction of DNA encapsulated in liposomes, which are lipid vesicles that entrap the DNA. Further, tissue and cell type specificity has been conferred on the liposomes by coupling to cell-type specific antibodies, resulting in immunoliposom es°. In some cases a combination of liposomes and red blood cell membranes has been used for delivery (Feigner and Rhodes, 1991). 

Several studies have showm that ORL-1 are expressed in immune cells, including peripheral blood lymphocytes, T and B cells and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (Halford et al., 1995 Peluso et al., 1998 Horn et al., 1999 Serhan et al., 2001), and these receptors are functionally active (Waits et al., 2004 Halford et al., 1995 Horn et al., 1999 Serhan et al., 2001). Following these findings, nociceptin transcripts were found to be present in peripheral blood lymphocytes (Aijomand et al., 2002). It has been suggested, based on differences in transcripts betw een immune cells and neurons, that processing of the message and the final form of nociceptin may be cell type specific, similar to other peptides. 

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