[A system for the mechanized radioimmunological determination of digoxin]

Because of the increased number of samples to be processed in digoxin radioimmunoassay for clinical diagnosis and pharmacokinetic studies these analyses require mechanization to a certain extent. A newly developed modular analyzer system is described which is capable of mechanizing radioimmunoassays for digoxin, for example, independent on the kind of reagent kits as well as the separation technique. In dependence on the number of replicates from 60 to 240 samples per hour can be processed. The reaction vessels are placed in belts during the whole assay including centrifugation. The final separation of the liquid and the solid phase after centrifugation can be performed in two different ways: 1. If a conventional automatic gamma counter is used an aliquot of the supernatant is automatically dispensed into the counting vials which are to be closed manually and transferred into the counting device. 2. Further reduction of manual working steps can be achieved by employment of a newly developed discontinuous flow-through gamma counter which is part of the modular analyzer system. An aliquot of the supernatants is automatically flushed into a measuring cuvette installed into a conventional crystal detector. After measurement of the radioactivity and data output the cuvette is rinsed thoroughly. Thereafter the following sample is delivered.