Double Gel Diffusion/Ouchterlony Method

Abstract

In the gel diffusion techniques, gels, usually clarified agar, are used as matrices for combining diffusion with precipitation. The reactants simply diffuse through the gel towards each other and precipitation results where the optimal antibody/antigen ratios have been reached. A single antigen will give rise to a single line of precipitation in the presence of its homologous antibody. When two antigens are present in a system, each behaves independently of the other. Thus, if several bands of precipitation are evident, there are at least that many antigen-antibody combinations present.