| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus for separating serum from other blood components in a centrifuge tube. The separator comprises a cylindrical, laterally-expandable filter element composed of a multiplicity of generally longitudinally-oriented fibers, 10 to 40 millimicrons in diameter, formed of a biologically inert polymeric material having a specific gravity within the range of about 1.10 to 1.50 and bonded to adjacent fibers only at spaced-apart junctures. The filter element has a diameter within the range of 9 to 15 millimeters, a length from 75 to 125 percent of its diameter, and a bulk density of about 0.20 to 0.60 grams per cubic centimeter. During centrifugation, the filter advances downwardly from the mouth of the centrifuge tube, swelling laterally as serum flows through the fine passageways running generally lengthwise of the filter, and causing the descending filter to wipe against the walls of the tube, pushing loose cells and fibrin ahead of it, and finally compacting and restraining the fibrin-cell clot at the bottom of the tube to permit subsequent decantation of the filtered serum. In one embodiment, the filter is introduced into the tube by means of a stretchable cap which serves as a carrier for the filter prior to insertion and as a protective cover for the tube thereafter.
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