Lecture 5
What is the structure of an antibody?
Composed of two heavy (H) and two light (L) chains, linked by disulfide bonds.
Fab (antigen-binding) and Fc (crystallizable) fragments.
Hinge region provides flexibility for antigen binding
What does the midpiece of a spermatozoa house?
Mitochondria
What is the primary component of urine?
Water
What are the steps to ELISA
Procedure for Antibody-Sandwich ELISA:
Coating the Solid Phase: A monoclonal antibody is adsorbed nonspecifically onto a solid surface (e.g., wells of a polystyrene plate).
Adding the Sample: The sample containing the antigen (e.g., prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for seminal fluid or amylase for saliva) is added. The antigen binds to the antibody on the plate.
Formation of the Sandwich Complex: A second antibody, which binds to a different epitope on the antigen, is added to form an antigen-antibody-antibody complex.
Adding Enzyme-Labeled Antiglobulin: An enzyme-labeled antiglobulin (recognizing the antibody) is introduced, binding to the antibody-antigen sandwich.
Detection: Any excess enzyme-labeled antiglobulin is washed away, and the remaining bound antiglobulin is detected. The enzyme catalyzes a reaction with a substrate, producing a colorimetric or fluorometric signal. The intensity of the signal is directly proportional to the amount of antigen present in the sample.
Quantification: The amount of antigen can be quantified by comparing the sample’s signal intensity with a standard curve of known antigen concentrations.
What does hemoglobin get broken down into?
heme, globin, and iron.
What are the IgA subclasses?
IgA1 and IgA2
What would a positive immunochromatographic assay look like when detecting Human seminal vesicle–specific antigen (SVSA).
A positive result shows pink lines at both the test and control zones, while a negative result shows a line only at the control zone.
What is the most abundant WASTE product of urine
Urea
Where does food spend the most time in the digestive system?
The large intestine
How long does spermatogenesis take?
About 3 months
Which component of human blood holds DNA?
The white blood cells (WBCs) hold DNA. Unlike red blood cells (which lack a nucleus in humans) and platelets (which are cell fragments), white blood cells contain a nucleus where DNA is stored.
What do Christmas tree stains dye?
Sperm. It uses Nuclear Fast Red (NFR) to stain sperm nuclei red and picroindigocarmine (PIC) to stain the sperm neck and tail green. Sperm cells appear with red acrosomal caps and blue-green tails.
What are the phases of the uterine cycle?
Menstrual, Proliferative, and Secretory Phase
How many total human immunoglobulin isotypes are there?
9
Which antibody is produced first as a primary immune response?
IgM
What is the difference between affinity and avidity?
Affinity: Interaction strength between a single epitope and antibody binding site.
Avidity: Overall strength of the antigen-antibody binding, considering multivalent antigens and bivalent antibodies.
What is oligospermia?
Abnormally low sperm count
How do skin cells differ from vaginal epithelial cells?
Vaginal epithelial cells do not accumulate keratin.
PSA is a key protein in seminal fluid. What does PSA stand for?
Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA)
What does urobilinogen do?
It is converted into urobilin, giving urine its yellow color.
How are monoclonal antibodies produced?
Spleen cells from an immunized host (e.g., a mouse) are harvested. The plasma cells that produce antibodies are then fused with myeloma cells to create hybridoma cells, which are immortal and proliferate indefinitely. After a selection step to isolate fused cells, individual hybridoma clones are screened for the desired antibody.
What would an ELISA test for when looking for Saliva
human salivary α-amylase (HSA).
What are apocrine glands? Where are they normally found? What do they produce
found mainly in the underarms and genital areas, secrete an oily, odorous sweat triggered by emotional stress. These glands become active at puberty.
What component in seminal vesicle fluid fluoresces under UV light?
Flavin
What year did I get my Master's?
Hint: I started teaching 2021
2023