Thickness shear mode acoustic assay for plasminogen activators

Abstract

A micro version of the fibrin plate assay based on acoustic viscosity measurements is presented. The clot dissolution time was correlated with the amount of plasminogen activator in the samples assayed. The standard error observed with streptokinase (27%) was comparable with that of the rapid fibrin plate assay while a higher standard error was observed with tissue plasminogen activator (59%). The higher error was attributed to diffusion effects and to acoustic compression wave resonances. The method is rapid, sensitive and very small quantities of reagents are required.