Luminex xPONENT 4.0 SP1 - Manual (Page 16)

Luminex xPONENT 4.0 Software Manual
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Safety Precautions
All samples should be regarded as potentially contaminated and treated as infectious.
These samples should be handled at the Biosafety Level 2 as recommended for any
potentially infectious human serum or blood specimen in the Center for Disease Control/
National Institutes of Health Manual, “Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical
Laboratories” 1984.
Although beads do not contain hazardous or carcinogenic components at toxic levels, they
may be toxic if swallowed. Contact with acids liberates toxic gases. If product comes in
contact with skin, wash immediately with copious amounts of water. In case of accident,
seek medical advice immediately and show the product label or container to your medical
provider. A Material Safety Data Sheet is available upon request.
WARNING: Reagents may contain sodium azide as a preservative. Sodium
azide may react with lead and copper plumbing to form highly
explosive metal azides. It is also highly toxic and rates a material
safety data sheet (MSDS) health hazard 4. On disposal, flush
drains with a generous amount of cold water to prevent azide
build-up. Consult the manual guideline “Safety Management No.
CDC-22, Decontamination of Laboratory Sink Drains to remove
Azide salts” (Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, Georgia, April
30, 1976).
CAUTION: The sheath fluid and the solution in which beads are stored
contain proclin, which may cause an allergic reaction. Use
personal protective equipment, including gloves and safety
glasses.
Bead Concentration
The concentration of beads in an assay is a factor in system speed. If running an xMAP-
based kit, follow the instruction found on the kit’s product insert or use the provided
software protocol. We generally recommend using 2000 to 5000 beads per target,
depending on the assay.
Repetitive xMAP Bead Measurements
In an xMAP assay, the reporter signal is the result of the assay. Due to small bead size,
xMAP bead suspension exhibits near solution phase reaction kinetics. This means that
each set of xMAP beads used for a particular assay will show a statistically even
distribution of reporter molecules bound to the surface of each bead. During data
acquisition, numerous beads of each set are analyzed and the median statistic is
computed for that set by the software. The more beads of a set measured, the more
confidence that can be given for that particular measurement. If running an xMAP-based
kit, follow the kit’s product insert or use the provided software protocol.
Classification and Reporter Fluorochromes
Each xMAP bead set is internally dyed with two classification dyes, or three dyes for
beads above 100-plex. The fluorescence signal of these dyes allows for classification of
each bead set. Since each bead is analyzed individually, even when the sets are mixed in
a multiplex assay they can still be distinguished by their emission signals. The
fluorescence signal of reporter molecules bound to the surface of each bead set is