Measurement of analyte concentration
AssigneeMultilyte Limited
InventorRoger P. Ekins
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of measuring the ambient concentration in a fluid, especially a body fluid, of an analyte, such as a hormone or other biologically active material, whose concentration in the fluid is dependent on thedilution of the fluid is disclosed. The fluid is contacted with a trace amount of a binding agent, such as an antibody, specific for the analyte, the proportional occupancy of binding sites on the binding agent is determined and from that figure the analyte concentration is estimated without the need to measure accurately beforehand the volume of the fluid or fluid sample being tested. It is therefore possible to design a concentration-measuring device for insertion into a body fluid of a living creature for in situ measurement of concentration.
Claims19
A method of estimating the concentration in a fluid of an analyte whose concentration in that fluid is dependent on the dilution of the fluid, comprising contacting the fluid with a binding agent having binding sites specific for the analyte, the binding agent being used in a small amount such that the binding agent has at most only an insignificant effect on the ambient concentration of the analyte in the fluid, separating the binding agent and determining a value representative of the proportional occupancy of the binding sites of the binding agent by the analyte, and thereby determining from said value the analyte concentration in the fluid.
A method as claimed in claim 11 wherein the small amount of said binding agent binds no more than about 2% of the analyte in the fluid.
A method of estimating in vivo concentration of an analyte in a body fluid whose concentration is dependent on the dilution of the fluid, without the necessity of measuring the volume of the fluid, comprising contacting the body fluid with a binding agent having binding sites specific for the analyte, the binding agent being used in a small amount such that the binding agent has at most only an insignificant effect on the ambient concentration of the analyte in the body fluid, separating the binding agent and determining a value representative of the proportional occupancy of the binding sites of the binding agent occupied by the analyte, and thereby determining from said value the concentration of analyte in the fluid.
A method of estimating the concentration in a fluid of an analyte whose concentration in that fluid is dependent on the dilution of the fluid, comprising contacting the fluid with a binding agent having binding sites specific for the analyte, the binding agent being immobilized on a support and used in a small amount such as to have at most only an insignificant effect on the ambient concentration of the analyte in the fluid, separating the binding agent and determining a value representative of the proportional occupancy of the binding sites of the binding agent occupied by the analyte, and thereby determining from said value the analyte concentration in the fluid.
A method of estimating the in vivo concentration of an analyte in a body fluid whose concentration is dependent on the dilution of the fluid, without the necessity of measuring the volume of the fluid, comprising contacting the body fluid with a binding agent having binding sites specific for the analyte, the binding agent being immobilized on a solid support and used in a small amount such as to have at most only an insignificant effect on the ambient concentration of the analyte in the body fluid, separating the binding agent and determining a value representative of the proportional occupancy of the binding sites of the binding agent occupied by the analyte, and thereby determining from said value the concentration of analyte in the fluid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.