ABSTRACT
A scanning fluorometer/densitometer is an instrument for measuring the spatial distribution of fluorescent or optically absorbant chemical species in a sample. Such instruments are routinely used in the clinical laboratory for quantitating electrophoretic separations of serum proteins, cardiac isoenzymes, hemoglobins and lipoproteins. This chapter elucidates the instrument performance parameters which are of primary importance to accurate quantitation. It discusses densitometric and fluorometric theory and instrumental principles to the extent required as foundations for instrument analysis. Sources of instrumental error will be identified and quantified. The chapter suggests a system of performance specifications along with a variety of testing techniques. It also discusses the instrument designer and the clinical operator interested in accurate evaluation and use of existing instrumentation. While materials and methodology usually are the major sources of variability in electrophoretic results, the view that instrumental sources of error are always negligible is an unwarranted assumption.
