Abstract

Methods and apparatus are described by which immunochemical procedures such as immunodiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis can be used to provide quantitative measurement of the concentration of individual proteins in fluids such as serum, spinal fluid, tissue extracts and the like. That is accomplished typically by photooptically scanning the zones of precipitation which are produced, in parallel with those of standard preparations containing known concentrations of the proteins to be determined; deriving from the arrays of measurements of the precipitation zones selected parameters; and comparing the parameter values of the experimental and reference preparations. The zone measurements are preferably made and recorded electronically, with suitable digital manipulation of the resulting video values at a plurality of selected positions for each zone.