Do you know your blood group?
We are often asked about our blood group when we visit the doctor or when talking with our colleague. It would be ridiculous of us to mention AA, AS or SS.
The blood group is often mistaken for the genotype.
I would only enlighten us on the basic principles in blood group.
The blood group is determined by the genes inherited from the parents. It is based on the ABO system. There are 4 types of blood groups
A ,B ,AB ,and O.
These blood groups may either Rhesus positive or negative, RhD+/RhD- and is determined by the presence of RhD antigen in the blood making the types of blood groups 8 in number.
During one of my laboratory sessions in my course of study, I was taught how to check for a patients blood group using mine as a sample actually. Lol.
The blood
test is known as ABO test for testing of the presence of antigen A, B, or D in the blood to know the blood group.
I was given a tube containing antisera A, B and D with a glass slide and glass rod for mixing the antisera and my blood sample on the glass slide.
The main process used in determining the presence of the antigens is by agglutination.
Agglutination is basically the clumping of particles. Mostly when an antigen is mixed with its corresponding antibody such as Antigen A and Antibdy A. They would not mix together but for a visible clump.
For example,
Whenever the presence of antigen A is confirmed by agglutination, the person is said to have a blood group A.
And when agglutination occurs with antisera D, it indicates that the blood group is RhD+
Reaction of blood sample with antisera ( + indicate occurrence of agglutination and - indicate no agglutination )
Blood group
Antiserum A
Antiserum B
Antiserum D
Positive
Negative
Positive
A+
Positive
Negative
Negative
A-
Negative
Positive
Positive
B+
Negative
Positive
Negative
B-
Positive
Positive
Positive
AB+
Positive
Positive
Negative
AB-
Negative
Negative
Positive
O+
Negative
Negative
Negative
O-
There is also a home test kit for those that would like to know theirs without visiting the doctor. Although, its not as efficient as the lab test.
By now, I think we should know the difference between our blood group and genotype.
And just for fun, can anyone name the blood group in the picture above?!
References:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/agglutination
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiserum
http://m.wikihow.com/Determine-Your-Blood-Type
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/blood-groups/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Image sources @ pixabay.com, freeimages.com
B+
Wrong answer. Nice attempt.
Antisera A ,B and D staring from the left.
NB:
Clumps means agglutination occurred i.e positive
Interesting that blood, which everyone has, is actually quite complicated. I have bloodtype AB+, so pretty rare. I've been donating blood for 6 years. I wish more people would donate <3
Would have been great if you had explained better what agglutination or antisera or what much of the terms mean. At this point for a lot of people I am not certain they leave understanding as much from this as they could.
Ok.
I would try to give a brief explanation.
Agglutination is the reaction that occurs between an antigen and its corresponding antibody to for clump(s). Such as antigen A and antibody A like i said earlier.
When a blood sample which contains antigen(with unknown antigen type) is mixed with an antiserum which contains the antibody (either A,Bor D), agglutination infere that the antigen is corresponding to the antiserum used.
So, if antiserum B is used and agglutination occur, it infere that the blood sample is grouped B.
And as for the rhesus factor (determined by the presence of antigen D in the blood), agglutination also indicate its presence i.e positive.
Any form of uniformity means negative since agglutination did not occur.
And also, the genotype is not same as the blood group.
The genotype is the genetic constition of an individual. Such as AA SS AC AS
I still need a volunteer to give the answer to the question relating to the picture
Positive, positive, negative. So it would be AB-, correct?
Absolutely. kudos
Woot! I may have had an advantage as I have done this experiment with my middle schoolers once. In my defense, I forgot the order the blood types were usually tested though. :) Thanks for the challenge.
You're welcome. You've also been credited with 3.5 worth of STEEM for getting the answer correctly.
Thanks! You are also my 100th follower; I appreciate your support!
Wow!
The pleasure's mine.
What? What's the point in this post?
Knowing the difference between what blood group and genotype is. And knowing the process followed in determining the blood group.
Lol true that haha
O positive
False.
Hint the first one is positive from the left
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Very informative Post. So complicated, even vampire will stop sucking blood if he read this article.
Yeah!
Like he may die of agglutination.
have you heard of the book 'eating right for your blood type?' was rec to me before but i haven't read it yet.. this post just made me think of it though lol :)
Lol.
I would also have a checkup on that. Thanks a lot
NB:
The blood sample contains the antigen while the antiserum contains the antibody.