IMMUNOELECTROPHORETIC DETERMINATION OF TEAR FLUID PROTEINS COLLECTED BY THE SCHIRMER I TEST

Abstract

Using reservoirs containing 50 .mu.l of antigen solution in combination with a micro-modification of the electroimmunoassay a detection limit of 0.05 ng applied in 400 .mu.l corresponding to 0.125 ng/ml was achieved. Human tear fluid eluate from Schrimer paper strips was tested in the assay. The eluation procedure failed to extract all tear proteins as 32 ng were left in the paper. Despite the loss, experiments have shown the method to be suitable for immunological determination of tear proteins collected by the Shirmer I test.