mercaptoethanol agglutination inhibition test

mercaptoethanol agglutination inhibition test

A test that differentiates between IgG and IgM as the immunoglobulin responsible for an agglutination reaction.
Mechanism
The MAIT is based on mercaptoethanol’s disrupting the disulfide bonds needed to maintain IgM as a 5-molecule complex; IgM antibody agglutination does not occur after mercaptoethanol treatment, while IgG agglutination remains intact.