prozonen.
/ˈprəʊzəʊn/, U.S. /ˈproʊˌzoʊn/ Immunology.
In a quantitative precipitation or agglutination test: a relative concentration of antigen and antibody, or a range of such concentrations, for which precipitation or agglutination is absent or markedly reduced (most commonly due to antibody excess). Frequently attributive.
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prozone1916
1916 Jrnl. Immunol. 1 6 The fourth line in this table represents the so-called prozone in which excess of precipitinogen inhibits precipitation.
1934 H. Zinsser & S. Bayne-Jones Textbk. Bacteriol. (ed. 7) xvi. 222 The specificity of the prozones is demonstrable in two ways. In the first place, bacteria that have been subjected to the action of serum showing such a prozone, without being agglutinated, will no longer agglutinate when subsequently emulsified in a potent agglutinating serum. Again, absorption of a prozone serum with the homologous bacteria will remove the prozone.
1964 D. F. Gray Immunol. xi. 114 The ‘constant antibody’ precipitin reaction illustrates a phenomenon of diagnostic importance that may occur in agglutination tests, viz. the prozone, in which antigen: antibody aggregation is interfered with in the presence of an excess of antigen or of antibody.
1990 T. G. Wreghitt & P. Morgan-Capner ELISA in Clin. Microbiol. Lab. viii. 117 If undiluted samples are tested, a prozone effect (a negative or weakly positive reaction that increases in intensity when the sample is diluted) is often observed.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1916