Automated determinations of thyroid and gastric complement-fixing antibody; comparison with the fluorescent antibody and manual complement-fixation methods.

An automated technique has been established for the screening and titration of sera for complement-fixing antibody to gastric (parietal) cell and thyroid microsomal antigens. The automated method is of equal sensitivity to the manual complement-fixation technique but slightly less sensitive compared to the indirect fluorescent antibody method. The automated method has the advantage over the manual complement-fixation test of greater accuracy and reproducibility and the element of subjective interpretation is removed. It is less demanding on technician skill. The automated method requires only small amounts of sera but it consumes a considerable amount of antigen. Human antigen has been used in the present study. The automated method for complement-fixation reactions has some advantages over the manual method for both routine clinical purposes and for the research laboratory.