Bayer Corporation

Technicon Instruments Corporation

John F Cremins

Michael J Malin

Gregory A Farrell

Young R Kim

Bruce E Behringer

Louis D Sclafani

James A Mawhirt

Phyllis Shapiro

Joseph Carlucci

Joseph L Orlik

Young Ran Kim

A unified fluid cell circuit assembly for an analytical instrument, such as a clinical hematology, immunoassy or chemistry or a flow cytometry instrument. The assembly includes a unified fluid circuit, a shear valve, a fluid pump assembly, and a plurality of solenoid valves. The unified fluid circuit is made of a plurality of acrylic plates which have formed in the various plate surfaces chamber cavities, pneumatic, hydraulic and vent line, and valve cavities. The plates, when secured together, form a plurality of reaction chambers, a plurality of control valves and various lines as a network for controlling the flow and mixing of aliquots of a sample and fluids (rinse, reagents, etc.) to perform the reactions for analyzing the sample. The fluid pump assembly is connected to the unified flow circuit and has a plurality of diaphragm pumps which pump precise volumes of fluids. The solenoid valves provide the pressure and vacuum to operate the pumps and to provide a sample into the shear valve to form sample aliquots, and to mix the various aliquots with the reagents and diluents to form the reaction mixtures.

Unified fluid circuit assembly for a clinical hematology instrument

A method and apparatus for selecting a subset of a predetermined number of test sample aliquots to mix with respective reagents using a shear valve having a maximum predetermined number of aliquot loops in an analytical instrument, including without limitation a clinical hematology or a flow cytometer instrument. Each aliquot loop can be filled with a test sample aliquot. Selected ones of the aliquot loops can be filled with a rinse solution and, using bypass passages and valves, closed off from the rinse source and a vacuum source used to empty the rinse from the non-closed off aliquot loops. The vacuum source also is used to fill the non-closed off aliquot loops with the sample to be aliquotted, so that the closed off aliquot loop remains filled with rinse. The shear valve can then be shifted to a second position, where the reagents for the non-closed off aliquot loops are pumped through those aliquot loops to mix the selected sample aliquot loops with their respective reagents. Preferably, the reagent for the closed-off aliquot loop is not pumped and thereby conserved. The selective shear valve is usable in an analytical instrument, such as a clinical hematology instrument where it is possible to select from a standard panel of tests a particular one test or a particular combination of tests to perform. It is particularly useful when it is frequently desirable to perform only some of the full panel of tests, e.g., three or four of five standard blood chemistry tests, rather than always performing the full panel of tests.

Apparatus and methods for selecting a variable number of test sample

The present invention provides an improved reagent composition and method to perform white blood cell differential counting and subpopulation analysis using both fresh and aged blood samples with accuracy and precision. The invention is particularly applicable for the analysis of aged blood samples that have been stored at room temperature for over a day, thereby allowing accurate and useful information to be obtained from samples that are normally considered to be suboptimal. The improved reagent composition and method are particularly related to the peroxidase method of white blood cell differential determinations. One aspect of the invention includes an improved aqueous reagent composition for carrying out the peroxidase method of differential counting. Another aspect includes the use of a rinse cycle and rinse solution devoid of hemolytic surfactant to alleviate the adverse effects of rinse carryover and to streamline and economize the analytical process, particularly when the analyses are performed on automated hematology analyzers and flow cytometry systems. The composition and method of the invention provide clinically useful data for the differential analysis of whole blood samples.

Method and reagent composition for performing leukocyte differential

A method is disclosed for differentiating white blood cells. The method uses at least one surfactant and at least one dilute acid which together selectively strip the cytoplasm from certain classes of white blood cells and not others. More particularly, the method causes lysis of lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils and neutrophils, but not basophils. Thus, basophils are differentiated from other PMN sub-classes by their appearance as intact cells. The method totally avoids the need for dye preparation and the vagaries of staining techniques and can be used either manually or with instrumentation.

Leukocyte differentiation method

This invention relates to a method for the rapid determination of a differential white blood cell count in a sample, which method comprises:

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Waterbury, CT, United States of America

John F Cremins