What antifoam agents can be used in particle reagents?
Antifoam agents are usually silicone compounds which are highly surface active. There is a great danger that any antifoam added to a particle suspension would immediately coat out on the particles. This would probably lead to autoagglutination. If antifoam were added to a buffer reagent (not containing particles) it should be compatible for the duration of the assay. Antifoam B or Antifoam C available from Sigma are good general purpose antifoam agents. Incidentally, antifoams can readily grow microorganisms and are frequently contaminated so I would check the material used and store concentrates in the refrigerator.
