Appeal No. 1997-3503
Application No. 08/172,866
Claims 29 and 39 are illustrative of the subject matter on appeal and are
reproduced below:
29. An immunoassay method for detecting or identifying an analyte
contained in a biological sample, comprising the steps of:
(a) adding said sample and magnetic particles, said magnetic
particles being coated with an immunological substance which specifically
binds to the analyte, to a reaction vessel having an inclined surface for
collecting the magnetic particles, said inclined surface being an inner
surface of a bottom wall of the reaction vessel, whereby said magnetic
particles are reacted with said analyte present in said sample, thereby
agglomerating the magnetic particles through binding with said analyte;
(b) arranging a magnet outside said reaction vessel such that
magnetic particles which are not agglomerated are caused by the
magnetic field to be moved along the inclined surface to reach a bottom
portion thereof, while magnetic particles agglomerated on the inclined
surface are not moved by the magnetic field, thereby forming a particle
pattern concentrated at the center of a lower end portion of the reaction
vessel in the absence of said analyte, and forming a particle pattern
uniformly spread on the inclined surface in the presence of said analyte;
and
(c) determining the presence or absence of the analyte on the
basis of the particle pattern of the magnetic particles formed on the
inclined surface by the action of the magnetic field.
39. An immunoassay method for detecting or identifying an analyte
contained in a biological sample, comprising the steps of:
(a) immobilizing an immunological substance which specifically
binds with the analyte, to an inclined surface which is an
inner surface of a bottom wall of a reaction vessel;
(b) adding said sample and magnetic particles to said reaction
vessel, each of said magnetic particles being coated with an
immunological substance which specifically binds with said
analyte, whereby said analyte contained in said sample
binds with said immunological substance which has been
immobilized on said inclined surface in said step (a), and
said magnetic particles bind with said bound analyte,
thereby binding each of said magnetic particles with said
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