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Latex agglutination

also known as latex particle agglutination, for detection of antibodies is identical to haemagglutination in principle, but the substitution of smaller, antigen-coated latex particles for erythrocytes results in improved sensitivity and reagent longevity. Alternatively, antibodies can be absorbed to the latex particles (under appropriate ionic and ph conditions) by binding to the fc region of antibodies, leaving the fab region free to interact with antigens present in the applied specimens. This phenomenon has made latex agglutination a popular technique for detecting antigens as well.