Ultrafine inorganic phosphor, specifically binding material labeled with this phosphor, and detection method using this specific binding material

Abstract

A specific binding material labeled with an ultrafine inorganic phosphor 1 to 100 nm in particle size is disclosed The composition of the ultrafine inorganic phosphor is one of Ln.sub.2 O.sub.3 :Re, Ln.sub.2 O.sub.2 S:Re, ZnO, CaWO.sub.4, MO.xAl.sub.2 O.sub.3 :Eu, Zn.sub.2 SiO.sub.4 :Mn, and LaPO.sub.4 :Ce,Tb, wherein Ln represents at least one element selected from La, Gd, Lu, and Y, Re represents at least one element selected from lanthanide elements, M represents at least one element selected from alkali earth metals, and x represents a value from 0.5 to 15. This ultrafine inorganic phosphor is prepared by one of the following processes a process of evaporation in a gas including an RF thermal plasma process, dc plasma thermal spraying, sputtering, glass crystallization, a sol-gel process, precipitation including hydrothermal synthesis, and a spraying process. An antibody which reacts specifically with an antigen to be measured is labeled with this ultrafine inorganic phosphor and reacted with a specimen, and the unreacted material is removed. The antibody bound to the specimen is detected by quantitatively observing fluorescence emitted by the phosphor.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.