Method for effecting heterogeneous immunological analysis

An automatic analysis method for detecting the presence of and analyzing biological substances in biological samples in an immunological manner, comprising:

• (a) transporting a plurality of reaction vessels along an endless reaction line, said reaction vessels comprising cuvettes having an antibody or antigen fixed thereto, said antibody or antigen for binding said biological substances;
• (b) delivering said biological samples one per vessel into said reaction vessels;
• (c) delivering labeled reagents containing labeling substances into the reaction vessels to initiate an antigen-antibody reaction with said biological samples;
• (d) effecting a bound-free separation by separating biological substance bound by said antigen or antibody fixed with the reaction vessels and free sample and labeled reagents by washing said reaction vessels and;
• (e) measuring said biological substances in the samples by employing said labeling substances of the labeled reagents;
• and
• (f) wherein during analysis of a specific one of said samples a reaction vessel transported along said endless reaction line is indexed to pass by a same washing position a plurality of times to effect at least a first washing and a second washing by means of a same washing device, at least one of said first washing and said second washing including said washing in step (d) to effect said bound-free separation, wherein the reaction line is a circular reaction line comprising a turntable, said reaction vessels being equidistantly spaced apart in a first circular array at uniform angular positions about a periphery of said turntable, said turntable being rotated intermittently at a given angular distance increment equal to the spacing between said reaction vessels, and wherein step (a) includes successively supplying the reaction vessels in the form of cuvettes having the antibody or antigen fixed thereto to cuvette holders provided along said periphery of the turntable, and after the measuring of said biological samples in step (e), the cuvette is discharged from the turntable.

An automatic analysis method for detecting the presence of and analyzing biological substances in biological samples in an immunological manner, comprising:

• (a) transporting a plurality of reaction vessels along an endless reaction line, said reaction vessels being provided with an antibody or antigen fixed onto at least a part of the inner walls of said reaction vessels, said antibody or antigen for binding said biological substances;
• (b) delivering said biological samples one per vessel into said reaction vessels;
• (c) delivering labeled reagents containing labeling substances into the reaction vessels to initiate an antigen-antibody reaction with said biological samples;
• (d) effecting a bound-free separation by separating biological substance bound by said antigen or antibody fixed with said inner walls of the reaction vessels and free sample and labeled reagents by washing said reaction vessels and said antibody or antigen fixed onto at least a part of the inner walls of the reaction vessels;
• (e) measuring said biological substances in the samples by employing said labeling substances of the labeled reagent;
• (f) discharging the reaction vessels out of the reaction line;
• and
• (g) wherein during analysis of a specific one of said samples a reaction vessel transported along said endless reaction line is indexed to pass by a same washing position a plurality of times to effect at least a first washing and a second washing by means of a same washing device, at least one of said first washing and said second washing including said washing in step (d) to effect said bound-free separation.