Development of a layered-coating technology for clinical chemistry.

A genetic overview of how a layered-coating technology works is presented. Coating scientists can enhance specificity and sensitivity of clinical chemistry assays via the substantial flexibility they have in their choice of coating designs. Multiple layers in a coating provide multiple environments in which sequential chemical and physical reactions can be made to occur. Filtration, selective absorption, reactant and/or product immobilization, and the ability to control reaction kinetics via diffusion rates, layer proximities, and intralayer environments are some of the operative mechanisms that may be employed to improve upon assay accuracy and ease of performance. How these mechanistic alternatives provide the basis for a variety of clinical assays is illustrated. Emphasis is placed on unique features provided by this technology to the clinical laboratory. Performance data are compared to familiar liquid-phase assays.