Electrochemiluminescent immunoassay and apparatus therefor
First Claim
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1. A method of immunoassaying a sample containing an immunoreactant comprising the steps of:
- (a) forming a reaction mixture comprising said sample immunoreactant, a complementary immunoreactant, and a competitive immunoreactant with respect to said sample immunoreactant, said competitive immunoreactant having a chemiluminescent label attached thereto;
(b) confining said reaction mixture between a pair of electrodes;
(c) immobilizing said complementary immunoreactant adjacent one of said electrodes prior to the confining of said reaction mixture;
(d) incubating said reaction mixture to form a reaction product;
(e) applying a controlled voltage across said pair of electrodes for a controlled period of time to generate an oxidant for chemically triggering said chemiluminescently labelled competitive immunoreactant bound to said complementary immunoreactant in said reaction product; and
(f) measuring the chemiluminescence of said bound chemiluminescently labelled competitive immunoreactant.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing a chemiluminescent immunoassay featuring electrochemical techniques to generate an oxidant used to trigger the chemiluminescence of the labelled immunoreactant. The generation of the oxidant is precisely controlled and the oxidant precisely and uniformly delivered to provide a more accurate, precise and sensitive assay.
118 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method of immunoassaying a sample containing an immunoreactant comprising the steps of:
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(a) forming a reaction mixture comprising said sample immunoreactant, a complementary immunoreactant, and a competitive immunoreactant with respect to said sample immunoreactant, said competitive immunoreactant having a chemiluminescent label attached thereto; (b) confining said reaction mixture between a pair of electrodes; (c) immobilizing said complementary immunoreactant adjacent one of said electrodes prior to the confining of said reaction mixture; (d) incubating said reaction mixture to form a reaction product; (e) applying a controlled voltage across said pair of electrodes for a controlled period of time to generate an oxidant for chemically triggering said chemiluminescently labelled competitive immunoreactant bound to said complementary immunoreactant in said reaction product; and (f) measuring the chemiluminescence of said bound chemiluminescently labelled competitive immunoreactant. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. Apparatus for conducting an immunoassay, comprising:
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first and second metallic electrodes defining first and second opposing surfaces, respectively, said first electrode defining an anode and supporting a first immunoreactant on said first surface, and at least one of said electrodes being light transmissive; means for introducing a reactive solution between said first and second surfaces comprising at least second and third immunoreactants, said second immunoreactant being competitive with said first immunoreactant with respect to binding with said third immunoreactant, said second immunoreactant being labelled with chemiluminescent substance; means for impressing an electrical potential across said first and second electrodes for generating an oxidant at said first surface to oxidize said chemiluminescent substance; and means for measuring the chemiluminescence of said chemiluminescent substance, said measuring means comprising a detector means disposed adjacent said one electrode for receiving chemiluminescent radiation generated by oxidation of said chemiluminescent substance. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification