Uhlenhuth Test (1901)
Definition
The original precipitin ring test devised by Paul Uhlenhuth in Greifswald. Layering anti-human serum under a dilute bloodstain extract gives a white ring at the interface within minutes if the sample is human.
- Devised by
- Paul Uhlenhuth
- Year, location
- 1901, Greifswald
- Method
- Precipitin ring test
- Positive result
- White ring at interface within minutes
Common questions
Why was the Uhlenhuth test historically significant for forensic serology?+
It gave investigators, for the first time, a reliable laboratory method to distinguish human blood from animal blood, which resolved cases where a suspect claimed a bloodstain came from an animal and became a standard forensic technique across Europe within a few years of its publication.
Has the Uhlenhuth precipitin approach been replaced in modern casework?+
The classical ring-diffusion format has largely given way to faster, more sensitive immunochromatographic and antibody-based confirmatory tests for human origin, though the same antigen-antibody precipitin principle Uhlenhuth established still underlies those modern species tests.
Related terms
- Anti-Human Serum
- Antibodies raised in a rabbit (or goat) by repeated injection of human serum. The rabbit's immune system makes IgG against human serum...
- Antigen-Antibody Reaction
- The specific non-covalent binding between an antigen (a molecule capable of eliciting an immune response) and the antibody produced against it. In...
- COI Barcoding
- DNA-based species identification using a standard 658 bp segment of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene. Sequences are matched against reference...
- Cyt-B PCR
- Amplification and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene. The reference marker for species identification in degraded and trace samples.
- Immunoelectrophoresis
- A two-step technique: proteins are first separated by electrophoresis in agar gel, then antiserum diffuses from a parallel trough and forms precipitin...
- Ouchterlony Double Diffusion
- A gel diffusion technique in which antigen and antibody placed in separate wells in an agar gel diffuse passively toward each other....
- Precipitin Reaction
- The formation of an insoluble antigen-antibody complex (precipitate) when soluble antigen and antibody meet at equivalent concentrations. The Ouchterlony double-diffusion test and...