Multianalyte test vehicle

Details Multianalyte test vehicle Multianalyte test vehicle

1990-12-04

1993-02-16

Housel, James C.

Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser

Control element responsive to a sensed operating condition

422 64, 422103, 422112, 422115, 436180, 436809, G05D 700

Patent

active

051868970

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a multianalyte test vehicle which may be used in diagnostics and monitoring particularly optical immunodiagnostics.
In the fields of diagnosis and monitoring e.g. patient health care, there have been two main approaches to the analysis of samples from patients The first approach is concerned with a generally qualitative evaluation of whether an analyte is present or whether the level of analyte in a test sample deviates from acceptable limits while the second approach is concerned with the quantitative evaluation of the amount of analyte in a sample.
Usually the diagnostic devices used in the first approach are relatively inexpensive and disposable. An example of such a device is the so-called dipstick device used to test for glucose in the urine of diabetics. The dipstick device comprises a test area which is usually loaded with several enzymes and a chromogen. In the example of testing for the presence of glucose, a liquid sample, usually urine, is applied to the test area and results in a colour change of the test area in only a few seconds. The colour change after a given time is broadly divided into three categories which are discernable by the naked eye in comparison with a colour chart, viz. normal, glucose present but below a certain concentration, and glucose present in unacceptable concentrations. It is relatively easy to see if a sample falls squarely within any one of the categories but it is difficult to decide on borderline samples especially as the sensitivity of such devices are seriously affected by their storage conditions (temperature, humidity etc). Nevertheless such devices are useful as they can give a qualitative answer with respect to a sample, their simplicity allows for their use by a person suffering from a chronic disorder or someone monitoring the presence of a particular substance and their inexpensiveness allows for their regular use. However, in many fields there is a need to make a quantitative assessment of the levels of analyte or different analytes in a sample.
In the past quantitative tests were performed individually by a skilled technician working in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. The high level of labour involved in effecting such tests made them very expensive; consequently attempts have been made to automate or partially automate these tests.
Many attempts at providing a multianalyte test apparatus have relied on metered sub-division of a sample into a number of aliquots; each aliquot being tested for a different analyte. Expensive pumping equipment and complicated purging systems were needed in these apparatus to control the consistent division of the sample and to avoid problems of contamination caused by earlier samples. The cost and complexity of this sort of apparatus has meant that it is usually located at hospitals, if concerned with medical samples, or central laboratories removed from the site where monitoring is needed e.g. when monitoring a food production line or river for contamination. The remoteness of the apparatus from the place where the sample is taken causes a delay in effecting the test and obtaining a result. Sometimes the delay is unacceptable. Thus there is a general need to provide a multianalyte test apparatus which avoids the disadvantages associated with prior art apparatus and which has some of the elements of simplicity and ease of use associated with disposable diagnostic devices.
Much work has been done in the field of optical biosensors in an effort to simplify multianalyte test apparatus. An optical biosensor is a small device which, together with its measuring instrument, uses optical principles quantitatively to convert chemical or biochemical concentrations or activities of interest into electrical signals. The sensor may incorporate biological molecules, such as antibodies or enzymes to provide a transducing element giving the desired specificity. The range of application of such sensors is vast although many requirements, such as working temperature ra

REFERENCES:
patent: 4244916 (1981-01-01), Guigan
patent: 4314968 (1982-02-01), Guigan
patent: 4810658 (1989-03-01), Shanks et al.

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