What is the Difference Between Agglutination and Hemagglutination

The key difference between agglutination and hemagglutination is that in agglutination, red blood cells are not involved in clumping, while in hemagglutination, red blood cells are involved in clumping.

Different biochemical processes are important in many clinical diagnostic avenues. Agglutination is an immune technique that is used in medical diagnosis, while hemagglutination is a type of agglutination technique that utilizes a special agglutinant called hemagglutinin.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Agglutination
3. What is Hemagglutination
4. Similarities – Agglutination and Hemagglutination
5. Agglutination vs Hemagglutination in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Agglutination vs Hemagglutination

What is Agglutination?

Agglutination is a biochemical process that involves the clumping of particles. It is the process that occurs if an antigen is mixed with a corresponding antibody called an isoagglutinin. Agglutination occurs in two ways biologically. Bacterial or red blood cells clump in the presence of an antibody or a complement. Here, the antibody creates a large complex due to the binding of particles together. As a result, the efficacy of microbial elimination due to phagocytosis increases. Bacteria are eliminated as large clumps at once.

Agglutination vs Hemagglutination in Tabular Form

Figure 01: Agglutination

Agglutination also takes place when carrying out blood transfusions. When people are given blood transfusions of incompatible blood groups, the antibody starts reacting incorrectly against it. As a result, red blood cells stick together and clump to cause agglutination. During microbial analysis, agglutination is used as a method to identify specific antigens of bacteria and the identification of bacteria. Therefore, agglutination is a diagnostic technique. Hemagglutination is a type of agglutination and is a critical process during blood transfusion.

What is Hemagglutination?

Hemagglutination is the clumping or clogging of red blood cells. The agglutin that is responsible for hemagglutination is hemagglutinin. Hemagglutination is involved in the test for the presence of antibodies. The main importance of hemagglutination is the use in cross-matching, where donor blood is matched with the recipient blood. Here, the donor red blood cells and the recipient’s plasma undergo incubation together with hemagglutinin. If agglutination occurs, this means the donor and recipient blood types are incompatible. Hence, hemagglutination is a very critical process during blood transfusions.

Agglutination and Hemagglutination - Side by Side Comparison

Figure 02: Hemagglutination

Another type of hemagglutination assay is the hemagglutination inhibition assay (HIA). This assay detects antibodies developed against a virus. During the assay, the absence of hemagglutination confirms the detection and presence of antibodies.

What are the Similarities Between Agglutination and Hemagglutination?

Agglutination and hemagglutination are immune-based biochemical processes.
Both processes are involved in the clumping of particles.
They are used as diagnostic techniques.
Both techniques are used in blood transfusion cross-matching.
For many clinical diagnostics, agglutination and hemagglutination are important aspects.

What is the Difference Between Agglutination and Hemagglutination?

Agglutination is a process where red blood cells are not involved in clumping, while hemagglutination is a process where blood red blood cells are involved in clumping. This is the key difference between agglutination and hemagglutination. Latex agglutination, flocculation tests, direct bacterial agglutination, and hemagglutination are types of agglutination assays. Hemagglutination assay types are Hemagglutination inhibition assay (HIA) and Passive hemagglutination assay (PHA). Moreover, hemagglutinin is not involved in agglutination, while hemagglutinin is involved in hemagglutination.

The following table summarizes the difference between agglutination and hemagglutination.

Summary – Agglutination vs Hemagglutination

Agglutination is a biochemical process that involves the clumping of particles. It is the process that occurs if an antigen is mixed with a corresponding antibody called an isoagglutinin. Hemagglutination is the clumping or clogging of red blood cells. The agglutin that causes hemagglutination is hemagglutinin. Red blood cells are not involved in agglutination in clumping, while red blood cells are involved in clumping in hemagglutination. Hemagglutination is a very critical process during blood transfusions. During microbial analysis, agglutination is used as a method to identify specific antigens of bacteria and the identification of bacteria. This summarizes the difference between agglutination and hemagglutination.

Reference:

1. Parker, Nina, et al. “Agglutination Assays.” Microbiology, OpenStax, 1 Nov. 2016.
2. Dutta, Dr. Sanchari Sinha. “What Is Hemagglutination?” News, 18 Mar. 2021.