| 摘要 |
<p>An assay apparatus (20) employing total internal reflection of excitation radiation at the interface between an optically conductive rod or fiber (22) and a surrounding liquid phase of lower index of refraction. Immobilized on the surface of the fiber is a component of a complex formed in an immunochemical-type reaction; a fluorophore that can be excited into fluorescence by the excitation radiation is attached to another component of the complex. The fiber (22) is coaxially disposed in cantilevered manner within a length of tubing (24), so that the excitation radiation can be launched into the unsupported end (28) of the fiber (22) and the fluorescent radiation tunneling back into the fiber (22) may be observed at the same fiber end (28), thereby preventing that portion of the fiber surface between the unsupported fiber end (28) and the mounted end (30) being in contact with other than the surrounding liquid phase.</p> |
