Hemagglutination inhibition assay procedure

Practicability. Both hemagglutination-inhibition and latex inhibition tests are easy to perform and are inexpensive. In addition, the results of the tests can be read in a few hours. As mentioned previously, their main disadvantage is the need to use large quantities of purified hormones in order to coat the red cells. Stockell Hartree (S25) has shown that these assays are extremely useful in order to monitor hormone extraction procedures, but in the absence of a supply of purified hormones their sphere of applicability to clinical problems is limited. When crude hormones and nonspecific antisera are used the quantitative significance of assays based on hemagglutination-inhibition reactions is doubtful. 

The evaluation of anti-BPO antibodies of the IgG class, by a similar procedure to the one used in the RAST assay, has proved of interest in the evaluation of penicillin-induced hematological disorders, such as hemolytic anemia or leukopenia (Neftel et al. 1981), although anti-BPO IgG antibodies are also encountered in asymptomatic individuals treated with high doses of penicillins. Previously described methods, such as hemagglutination or bacteriophage inhibition, are cumbersome, less reproducible, and may be considered as obsolete. 

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