hemagglutination
[he″mah-gloo″tĭ-na´shun] agglutination of erythrocytes.
hemagglutination inhibition (HI, HAI) test 1. a highly sensitive procedure for the measurement of soluble antigens in biologic specimens; the amount of hemagglutination reflects the amount of free antibody present after reaction with the specimen and thus varies inversely with amount of antigen in the specimen.
2. a procedure for the measurement of serum antibodies directed against a hemagglutinating virus; the highest dilution of serum that completely inhibits hemagglutination by a standardized viral preparation is reported as the hemagglutination titer.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.