Process for testing microparticle response to its environment

Claim 2

A process for determining the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of a given bacterial sample to a selected chemical agent comprising the steps of: A. preparing from said given bacterial sample a bacterial control sample in a medium promoting growth of bacteria; B. incubating said bacterial control sample for a period of time sufficient for metabolism to occur; C. inserting said sample into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of radiant energy; D. measuring the intensity of radiant energy scattered by said sample at plurality of angular locations about said sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said sample; E. preparing from said given bacterial sample a bacterial test sample including a predetermined concentration, X, of a selected chemical agent in a medium promoting growth of bacteria; F. incubating said bacterial test sample for substantially the same period of time and under substantially the same conditions as the bacterial control sample; G. inserting said test sample into said beam path; H. measuring the intensity of radiant energy scattered by said test sample at substantially the same angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample; I. comparing said test and control patterns to yield a score, S, indicative of the effects of the chemical agent upon bacterial growth and upon bacterial morphology; and, J. determining the MIC value, V (S, X), from the score, S, and the predetermined concentration, X, of the selected chemical agent.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 where the chemical agent is an antibiotic.

Claim 4

The process of claim 1 where the MIC value, V, is derived from the score S and the concentration X substantially in accordance with the expression ##EQU31## or any of its algebraic equivalents where h is a constant characteristic of the chemical agent and f(S) is a function of the score S that is an increasing function with increasing susceptibility of the bacterial sample to lower concentrations of the chemical agent.

Claim 5

The process of claim 3 where: f(S) = S + δ or any of its algebraic equivalents where δ is a constant characteristic of the chemical agent.

Claim 6

The process of claim 1 where the concentration of bacteria in the bacterial test sample is known relative to the concentration of bacteria in the control samples and adjusting the determination to compensate for any substantial difference between these concentrations.

Claim 7

The process of claim 1 where the bacterial test and control samples are prepared in a growth medium made by diluting a standard liquid bacterial growth medium.

Claim 8

A process for screening a test specimen for the presence of a particular chemical agent comprising the steps of: A. preparing a chemical suspension from a sample known to be free of said particular chemical agent by combining in a bacterial growth medium said sample with exponential growth phase bacteria whose sensitivity response to said chemical agent is known; B. incubating said control suspension for a predetermined period of time sufficient for metabolism to occur; C. inserting said control suspension into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; D. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said control suspension at a plurality of angular locations about said control suspension to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said control suspension; E. preparing a test suspension from a test sample to be screened for said particular chemical agent by combining in a bacterial growth medium said test sample with substantially the same type of bacteria in exponential growth phase as used to prepare the control suspension; F. incubating said test suspension for substantially the same period of time and under substantially the same conditions as the control suspension; G. inserting said test suspension into said beam path; H. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test suspension at substantially the same angular locations about said test suspension to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test suspension; I. comparing said test and control patterns to yield a score, S, indicative of the effects of the test sample on the growth and morphology of the test bacterial suspension relative to the control bacterial suspension; and, J. determining from the magnitude of said score the presence of said particular chemical agent in the test sample.

Claim 9

A process for screening a test specimen for the presence of a particular chemical agent comprising the steps of: A. preparing a chemical suspension from a sample known to be free of said particular chemical agent by combining in a bacterial growth medium said sample with exponential growth phase bacteria whose sensitivity response to said chemical agent is known; B. incubating said control suspension for a predetermined period of time sufficient for metabolism to occur; C. inserting said control suspension into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; D. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said control suspension at a plurality of angular locations about said control suspension to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said control suspension; E. preparing a test suspension from a test sample to be screened for said particular chemical agent by combining in a bacterial growth medium said test sample with substantially the same type of bacteria in exponential growth phase as used to prepare the control suspension; F. incubating said test suspension for substantially the same period of time and under substantially the same conditions as the control suspension; G. inserting said test suspension into said beam path; H. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test suspension at substantially the same angular locations about said test suspension to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test suspension; I. comparing said test and control patterns to yield a score, S, indicative of the effects of the test sample on the growth and morphology of the test bacterial suspension relative to the control bacterial suspension; and, J. determining from the magnitude of said score the presence of said particular chemical agent in the test sample.

Claim 10

A process for quantifying the amount of a chemical agent in a test specimen comprising the steps set forth in the process of claim 7 including: A. comparing said test and control patterns to yield a score, S, indicative of the changes of the test pattern relative to the control pattern; B. determining the functional response, f(S), of the bacterial specimen to said chemical agent; and C. determining from the score, S, and the functional response of the bacterial specimen to the chemical agent the concentration, X, of the chemical agent in the test specimen.

Claim 11

The process of claim 8 where the amount of the chemical agent, X, is derived from the score, S, and the functional response, f(S), substantially in accordance with the expression X = cf(S) or any of its algebraic equivalents where c is a constant characteristic of the chemical agent.

Claim 12

The process of claim 9 where: f(S) = S + δ or any of its algebraic equivalents where δ is a constant characteristic of the chemical agent.

Claim 13

The process of claim 7 in which the test specimen is obtained by extracting liquid from a tissue sample.

Claim 14

The process of claim 7 including the steps of diluting the incubated control suspension and the incubated test suspension with the same diluent and by substantially the same amounts before inserting them into said light beam path.

Claim 15

A process for measuring the response of antibodies to their environment, comprising the steps of: A. preparing an antibody control sample; B. inserting said control sample into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; C. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said sample at a plurality of angular locations about said sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said sample; D. preparing an molecular test sample including a selected environmental change relative to said control sample; E. inserting said test sample into said beam path; F. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test sample at substantially the same said angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample; and G. comparing said control and test patterns to determine a selected relative difference therebetween, said difference providing an indication of the response of said antibodies to said selected environmental change.

Claim 16

A process for measuring the response of antibodies to their environment, comprising the steps of: A. preparing an antibody control sample; B. inserting said control sample into the path of an incident narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; C. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said sample at a plurality of angular locations about said sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a control differential scattering pattern produced by said sample; D. preparing an molecular test sample including a selected environmental change relative to said control sample; E. inserting said test sample into said beam path; F. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test sample at substantially the same said angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample; and G. comparing said control and test patterns to determine a selected relative difference therebetween, said difference providing an indication of the response of said antibodies to said selected environmental change.

Claim 17

The process of claim 13 wherein said molecules are antibodies and said environment may include antigens, the determination detecting the presence of antigens in the selected environment.

Claim 18

The process of claim 14 wherein the antibodies are contained in an aliquot of human serum and the antigen is a commercially produced reagent.

Claim 19

The process of claim 13 wherein the measurements of the differential scattering patterns are performed at a plurality of different times on at least the test sample.

Claim 20

The process of claim 13 wherein said environment may include viruses, the determination detecting their presence in the selected environment.

Claim 21

The process of claim 13 wherein said environment may include particles having a natural affinity to the molecules, the determination detecting their presence in the selected environment.

Claim 22

The process of claim 18 wherein said particles are molecules.

Claim 23

A process for quantitating the response of biologically derived molecules to their environment, comprising the steps of: A. preparing a set of molecular control samples including a reference sample, each in a different environment, B. inserting said control samples sequentially into the path of an incident, narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; C. measuring the intensity of light scattered by each control sample at a plurality of angular locations about said control sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a set of control differential scattering patterns produced by said control samples; D. comparing said patterns relative to the reference control sample so as to derive a score, S, for each control environment condition and therefrom a set of scores deriving a response function f(S); E. preparing a molecular test sample in a test environment; F. inserting said test sample into the path of incident, narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; G. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test sample at substantially the same said angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample; H. comparing said test pattern with the previously measured reference control patterns to derive a score, S, indicative of the test environment; and, I. comparing said score, S, with said control response function, f(S), to derive and quantitate molecular response to the test environment.

Claim 24

A process for quantitating the response of biologically derived molecules to their environment, comprising the steps of: A. preparing a set of molecular control samples including a reference sample, each in a different environment, B. inserting said control samples sequentially into the path of an incident, narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; C. measuring the intensity of light scattered by each control sample at a plurality of angular locations about said control sample relative to the direction of said incident beam sufficient to derive a set of control differential scattering patterns produced by said control samples; D. comparing said patterns relative to the reference control sample so as to derive a score, S, for each control environment condition and therefrom a set of scores deriving a response function f(S); E. preparing a molecular test sample in a test environment; F. inserting said test sample into the path of incident, narrow, substantially monochromatic beam of light; G. measuring the intensity of light scattered by said test sample at substantially the same said angular locations about said test sample to derive a test differential scattering pattern produced by said test sample; H. comparing said test pattern with the previously measured reference control patterns to derive a score, S, indicative of the test environment; and, I. comparing said score, S, with said control response function, f(S), to derive and quantitate molecular response to the test environment.

Claim 25

The process of claim 20 where the molecules are antigens the control environments contain antibodies at known concentrations, and where the test environment may contain antigens at an unknown concentration.

Claim 26

The process of claim 21 wherein the test environment includes serum, the antigens being contained in an aliquot of said serum.

Claim 27

The process of claim 20 wherein the measurements of the differential scattering patterns are performed at a plurality of different times on at least the test sample.

Claim 28

The process of claim 20 wherein said environment may include viruses, the determination detecting their presence in the selected environment.

Claim 29

The process of claim 20 wherein said environment may include particles having a natural affinity to the antigens, the determination detecting their presence in the selected environment.

Claim 30

The process of claim 20 wherein each of the control and test samples are allowed to interact with their environment for substantially the same time and under substantially the same conditions prior to their insertion in said light beam.