Composite optical blood culture sensor
First Claim
1. An apparatus for detecting microorganism growth comprising:
- a container comprising a culture medium, a blood specimen, and a headspace having a concentration of a gas;
a chemically sensitive material in said container for detecting microorganism growth within said container when illuminated with an intensity-modulated light, said chemically sensitive material being comprised of a first material and a second material;
said first material exhibiting a fluorescence decay time and fluorescence intensity that depend on a first chemical parameter of said gas; and
said second material exhibiting an optical transmission that depends on a second chemical parameter of said gas.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A culture medium and blood specimen are introduced into a sealable glass vial having a headspace gas mixture such that a change in the gas mixture composition can be monitored by a chemically sensitive material in the vial comprising a mixture of a fluorophore and a chromophore. The fluorophore exhibits a long fluorescence decay time and a fluorescence intensity that depend on a first chemical parameter, such as oxygen concentration. The chromophore exhibits an optical transmission that depends on a second chemical parameter, such as carbon dioxide concentration, the optical transmission of the chromophore changing with the second chemical parameter either within the excitation or within the emission wavelength range of the fluorophore.
46 Citations
12 Claims
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1. An apparatus for detecting microorganism growth comprising:
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a container comprising a culture medium, a blood specimen, and a headspace having a concentration of a gas; a chemically sensitive material in said container for detecting microorganism growth within said container when illuminated with an intensity-modulated light, said chemically sensitive material being comprised of a first material and a second material; said first material exhibiting a fluorescence decay time and fluorescence intensity that depend on a first chemical parameter of said gas; and said second material exhibiting an optical transmission that depends on a second chemical parameter of said gas. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for detecting microorganism growth comprising:
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a container comprising a culture medium, a blood specimen, and a headspace having a concentration of a gas; a chemically sensitive material in said container for detecting microorganism growth within said container when illuminated with an intensity-modulated light, said chemically sensitive material being comprised of a first material and a second material; said first material is a fluorophore that exhibits a change in fluorescence decay time and fluorescence intensity in response to a change in oxygen concentration of said gas; said second material is a chromophore that exhibits a change in optical transmission in response to a change in carbon dioxide concentration of said gas, whereby the change in fluorescence intensity emitted by said fluorophore is amplified by the optical transmission change of said chromophore; a light source for illuminating said chemically sensitive material in said container with the intensity-modulated light at a predetermined circular modulation frequency and a predetermined modulation degree; a photodetector for detecting fluorescence light reemerging from said chemically sensitive material; means for measuring an AC component and a DC component of the fluorescence photocurrent from said photodetector; and means for generating a sensor output signal based on the AC component and the DC component representing information as to whether or not microorganism growth is present within said container.
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Specification