Contents of lectins and especially phasins in feed and food are often assessed indirectely by examining the hemaglutinating potential of this products in vitro.

We are currently aiming to correlate the phasin contents of Phaseolus vulgaris varieties as assessed by ELISA with the hemglutinating potential of such materials. Therefore, we want to establish an appropriate hemaglutination assay in our lab. We will do it on microtiter plates and follow the hemaglutination spectrophotometrically at 620 nm as has been described in the present literature.

I wonder whether some of you guys have esperience with this issue and can address certain methodological hurdles which have to be taken on the way to a proper protocol. Could you recommend a certain product of standardised red blood cells to us? Which species would you consider the most appropriate for the collection of red blood cells for this purpose?

Thank you very much in advance!

Daniel.