AUTOMATIC IMMUNOASSAY METHOD AND APPARATUS

摘要

An automatic immunoassay and an apparatus for the same are provided, by which various operations necessary for supplying and discarding a reaction tube, for performing a washing for a B/F separation, for dispensing a reagent, and for performing an assay, can be achieved automatically while allowing the reaction time to be changed freely so that the invention can be readily practiced and embodied in various different assaying techniques including the one-step or two-step noncompetitive sandwich method, and the competitive method. The automatic immunoassay apparatus is characterized by comprising: a reaction tube turret intermittently rotatable at a predetermined speed; a reaction tube holding portion including a plurality of reaction tube holders arranged in two rows composed of an inner row and an outer row along the periphery of an upper surface of the reaction tube turret; a reaction tube supplying means for supplying a reaction tube to the reaction tube holding portion; a reaction tube transfer means for transferring the reaction tube held by one of the reaction tube holders to another reaction tube holder while skipping a desired number of reaction tube holders; a sample dispensing means for dispensing a sample to the reaction tube; a particle supplying means for supplying particles to the reaction tube; a reagent dispensing means for dispensing a labeled reagent to the reaction tube; a washing means for performing a B/F separation; an assaying reagent dispensing means for dispensing an assaying reagent to the reaction tube; an assaying means for assaying the amount of the labeling substance in a reacted reaction solution in the reaction tube; and a reaction tube discarding means for removing the assayed reaction tube from the reaction tube holding portion and discarding the thus removed reaction tube.