Luminescence detection by surface reaction

Abstract

Abstract A SYSTEM FOR TESTING A SAMPLE BY MEANS OF BIOLUMINESCENT OR CHEMILUMINESCENT REACTION OR SCINTILLATION FLUORESCENCE TO DETECT LIVING MATERIAL OR RADIOACTIVE TRACERS THEREIN. BIOLUMINESCENT AND CHEMILUMINESCENT REACTION IS ACHIEVED BY BRINGING INTO CONTACT BETWEEN TWO PHOTODETECTORS TWO LIGHT TRANSPARENT SURFACES, ONE OF WHICH CARRIES THE SAMPLE AT SPACED INTERVALS AND THE OTHER THE REAGENT AT SIMILAR INTERVALS. LIGHT EMITTED DUE TO THE REACTION OF THE SAMPLE AND REAGENT ON THE INTERFACE OF THE SURFACES IS TRANSMITTED THROUGH OPTICAL COUPLING LIQUID AN LIGHT PIPES TO PHOTOCATHODES OF THE PHOTODETECTORS. SCINTILLATION FLUORESCENCE IS ACHIEVED IN A SIMILAR MANNER BUT WITH ONE SURFACE CARRYING SAMPLE CONTAINING A TRACER AND THE OTHER SURFACE MADE OF SCINTILLATION MATERIAL. FOR SPECIAL INDIVIDUAL EXPERIMENTS INVOLVING EXTREMELY SMALL QUANTITIES OF SAMPLE THE SURFACES MAY BE TWO MICROSCOPE COVER PLATES BEARING THE SAMPLE AND REAGENT. THE OUTPUT SIGNALS OF THE PHOTODETECTORS ARE TRANSMITTED THROUGH AMPLIFIERS AND COINCIDENCE CIRCUITRY INTO A SCALER OR DISPLAY UNIT, THUS ACCURATELY RECORDING THE NUMBER OF REACTIONS OF INDIVIDUAL CELLS OR THEIR EXTRACT, THE NUMBER OF DISINTEGRATED PARTICLES, OR THE TOTAL ENERGY OF REACTION. THE ENTIRE SYSTEM IN AMBIENT LIGHT TIGHT FOR PROTECTION AND GREATER EFFICIENCY IN DETECTING LOW LEVELS OF LUMINESCENCE.

Inventors

• 👤 Chris J Plakas

Bibliographic Details