Ultrasound monitored HIV rapid test

描述(由申请人提供)：这项建议的目的是证明一种检测体液中人类免疫缺陷病毒(HIV)抗体的新方法的可行性。该方法基于超声波的使用，大大提高了常规颗粒凝集免疫分析的灵敏度，缩短了分析时间。超声波被用来加速和监测凝集过程。拟议技术利用超声波驻波场中的一系列物理现象，包括：(A)驻波节点粒子聚集体的积累和凝聚过程的加速；(B)驻波节点微气泡的产生，其中乳胶粒子聚集体充当微气泡成核中心；(C)由于溶解气体从液体向微气泡的整流扩散，超声场中微气泡的生长；(D)随后的空化活动使表明由于抗原-抗体反应形成粒子聚集体的“信号”得到极大放大。我们计划开发的免疫分析将在一种简单、便携和廉价的设备中实现，该设备基于新颖的专利圆柱形谐振器技术。值得注意的是，该方法可以很容易地适用于检测任何可以产生抗体的目标分子。初步研究证实了拟议技术的主要创新部分的可行性，并表明新方法具有巨大的商业和科学潜力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of a novel method for detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody in the body fluids. The method is based on the use of ultrasound to significantly increase the sensitivity and reduce time of analysis of conventional particle agglutination immunoassay. Ultrasound waves are used for both accelerating and monitoring of the agglutination process. Proposed technology exploits the sequence of physical phenomena in the ultrasonic standing wave field including (a) accumulation of particle aggregates in the nodes of the standing acoustic wave and acceleration of the agglutination process; (b) generation of microbubbles in the nodes of the standing acoustic wave, where the latex particle aggregates serve as microbubble nucleation centers; (c) the growth of the microbubbles in the ultrasonic field due to rectified diffusion of the dissolved gas from the liquid into the microbubble; and (d) the following cavitation activity which provides gigantic amplification of the "signal" indicating the formation of the particle aggregate due to antigen-antibody reaction. The immunoassay we propose to develop will be implemented in a simple, portable and inexpensive device based on the novel patented cylindrical resonator technology. Significantly, the method can be easily adapted to detect any target molecule for which antibodies can be raised. Preliminary studies confirmed feasibility of the major innovative components of the proposed technology and it is shown that the new method has significant commercial and scientific potential.