Development of a modified microtiter plate with a concave portion in the center.

We have developed a modified microtiter plate which has following advantageous features and functions to both conventional microtiter plate and protein array, such as 1) use of conventional microtiter plate reader and washer, and 2) allowance of simultaneous reaction in the same liquid for all wells. Four proteins of human serum albumin, human C-reactive protein (CRP), human plasminogen and human MIP-1alpha as sample proteins, were measured with the modified microtiter plate. Although the reaction liquid of each wells on the modified microtiter plate shares through concave portion, its antigen/antibody in each well is independent. The independence of the reaction is supported by the result that the above four proteins produced dose-response curves simultaneously. Unlike a conventional protein array, our plate does not need the drying process for antibody adhesion to the plate, preventing inactivation of the antibody. And one can detect the antigen/antibody reaction using the enzymatic amplification reaction (for example utilizing the biotin-streptavidine interaction) like a conventional plate. In addition to these features, our microtiter plate also has the merit of eliminating the so-called "edge effect".