Devices for use in chemical test procedures
First Claim
1. A sample collecting and testing device for use in the fluoroimmunoassay of an analyte present in sample liquid, said device comprising a planar capillary cell for the collection and retention of a volume of sample liquid to be tested therein, said capillary cell comprising a pair of flat, parallel plates fixed together with an air space therebetween and sealed along two opposite sides so as to provide fixed opposed inner surfaces defining a capillary cavity with a first aperture at one end thereof to allow uptake of sample liquid in the capillary cavity and a second aperture at the other end thereof to allow exit of air from the capillary cavity as it fills with sample liquid, wherein at least one of said plates is a light transmissive waveguide having an optically smooth edge which is transverse to the plane of the waveguide and perpendicular to the sealed sides thereof, said waveguide having bound to at least a portion of its inner surface, so as to be contacted by the sample liquid collected within the capillary cavity, an immobilised reagent capable of binding, either directly or indirectly, a fluorescent-labelled ligand, wherein said immobilised reagent and said fluorescent-labelled ligand is releasably retained within said device so as to be contacted by and released into the sample liquid collected therewithin.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A specifically-reactive sample-collecting and testing device possessing a cavity or cavities each having a dimension small enough to enable sample liquid to be drawn into the cavity by capillary action, wherein a surface of the cavity carries an immobilized reagent appropriate to the test to be carried out in the device, and wherein said surface is a surface of a transparent solid plate to act as a light-transmissive waveguide and forming a wall of the cavity, said plate having an edge which is substantially optically smooth and transverse to the plane of the plate.
241 Citations
39 Claims
- 1. A sample collecting and testing device for use in the fluoroimmunoassay of an analyte present in sample liquid, said device comprising a planar capillary cell for the collection and retention of a volume of sample liquid to be tested therein, said capillary cell comprising a pair of flat, parallel plates fixed together with an air space therebetween and sealed along two opposite sides so as to provide fixed opposed inner surfaces defining a capillary cavity with a first aperture at one end thereof to allow uptake of sample liquid in the capillary cavity and a second aperture at the other end thereof to allow exit of air from the capillary cavity as it fills with sample liquid, wherein at least one of said plates is a light transmissive waveguide having an optically smooth edge which is transverse to the plane of the waveguide and perpendicular to the sealed sides thereof, said waveguide having bound to at least a portion of its inner surface, so as to be contacted by the sample liquid collected within the capillary cavity, an immobilised reagent capable of binding, either directly or indirectly, a fluorescent-labelled ligand, wherein said immobilised reagent and said fluorescent-labelled ligand is releasably retained within said device so as to be contacted by and released into the sample liquid collected therewithin.
- 25. A process for manufacturing sample collecting and testing devices for use in the fluorescent or luminescent immunoassay of an analyte comprising the steps of (a) immobilizing a reagent appropriate to the test to be carried out in the device onto portions of the surface of a transparent flat sheet material which is capable of acting as a light-transmissive waveguide and which is to provide a part of a multiplicity of the devices, (b) attaching to said sheet material an additional flat sheet material in parallel, spaced relation thereto so as to provide for each device of the multiplicity of devices a capillary cavity sealed along two opposite sides thereof and containing said immobilised reagent on at least a portion of the inner surface thereof, said capillary cavity adapted for collecting and retaining by capillarity a volume of sample liquid in contact with said immobilised reagent and (c) separating the assembled sheets into portions, each portion providing one or a plurality of the sample collecting and test devices, such that the transparent sheet material of each device has at least one optically smooth edge transverse to the plane of the sheet and perpendicular to the sealed sides thereof.
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39. A sample collecting and testing device for use in the luminescent immunoassay of an analyte present in sample liquid, said device comprising a planar capillary cell for the collection and retention of a volume of sample liquid to be tested therein, said capillary cell comprising a pair of flat, parallel plates fixed together with an air space therebetween and sealed along two opposite sides so as to provide fixed opposed inner surfaces defining a capillary cavity with a first aperture at one end thereof to allow uptake of sample liquid in the capillary cavity and a second aperture at the other end thereof to allow exit of air from the capillary cavity as it fills with sample liquid, wherein at least one of said plates is a light transmissive waveguide having an optically smooth edge which is transverse to the plane of the waveguide and perpendicular to the sealed sides thereof, said waveguide having bound to at least a portion of its inner surface, so as to be contacted by the sample liquid collected within the capillary cavity, an immobilised reagent capable of binding, either directly or indirectly, a luminescent-labelled ligand, wherein said immobilised reagent and said luminescent-labelled ligand are appropriate to the test for analyte to be carried out in the device, and wherein said luminescent-labelled ligand is releasably retained within said device so as to be contacted by and released into the sample liquid collected therewithin.
Specification