The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 02, 1993
Filed:
May. 20, 1988
Poul E Aegidius, Helsinge, DK;
A/S Foss Electric Holding, Hillerod, DK;
Abstract
The number of bacteria in a cell population comprising bacteria and somatic cells is determined by concentrating the bacteria and the somatic cells on the surface of a substrate of a filter material, such as a membrane filter, rupturing the somatic cells by treatment with a medium which is not in osmotic balance with the medium inside the cells, such as water which here constitutes a hypotonic medium, and removing or inactivating their ATP, establishing an extraction chamber having an inner wall which is partly defined by the bacteria-bearing surface of the filter material and therein extracting the ATP from the bacteria with a medium containing a surfactant, such as a quaternary ammonium compound, capable of perforating the cell walls of the bacteria, adding luciferin and luciferase and transferring the medium to a measuring chamber, determining the amount of ATP by measuring the light emitted as a result of the luciferin/luciferase reaction and expressing the amount of ATP as the number of bacteria present on the substrate.