Kind of embarassing question

[AZFutureDoc]

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So I saw in some practice problems a passage with experimental info in a table. Specifically, it was a table listing 5 Ig's, and their corresponding specific abilities. Then, I saw a - (I'm assuming for an Ig that does not have the feature), but then I saw a few ++, and a few ++++'s. Is there anything specific to the number of these plusses? I'm assuming this is some kind of convention I am unfamiliar with. Does ++ mean 'kind of' and ++++ 'for sure' or what? Is more plusses more activity, or truth, or what?

Thanks.

 

[capn jazz]

Is it a table of activity levels or protein levels or something? Usually the more +s, the stronger the whatever they were detecting.

 

[AZFutureDoc]

Ya, that's what it was. I kinda figured that is what it was. I have seen it 2 or 3 times before and just wanted to figure it out. So ++++ means more activity than ++? OK, I guessed right.

 

[silverlion]

yes...the extra +'s could be related to more activity. More specifically the extra pluses refer to higher concentrations of proteins. An Ig's are not enzymes and therefore do not really have activity. They simply bind to antigens. An Ig that has a higher concentration in a sample could be represented by a greater no. of +'s on a table for qualitative purposes. The concentrations are usually determined through Enzyme linked Assays ( like ELISA) and often have colored products that corelate to the presence of a protein. the intrensity of the color is directly proportional to the amount of Ig in the sample....

SO bottomline is that the more + signs for an Ig refer to greater concentration. If there is an enzyme in question then it is again the concentration but one sample may have a higher concentration of the enzyme and thus relate to a higher activity.

If comparing two different enzymes (that acceleate the same reaction) then the + would really be related to the activity as one enzyme might be more effective than the other.