Use of Tunable, Pulsed Dye Laser for Quantitative Fluorescence in Syphilis Serology (FTA-ABS Test)

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Abstract
A pulsed dye laser was used as an excitation source in a fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTA-ABS) test. A high precision in quantitative fluorescence was obtained with this high-power excitation source coupled to an electronic detection system and a storage oscilloscope by standardization of fluorescence evaluation and through elimination of human error. One 0.4-μs pulse exposure was sufficient to record fluorescence intensity data on the oscilloscope. Absence of fading of fluorescence after repeated excitation permitted multiple readings of the same microscope field. Almost 100% reproducible results were obtained for the FTA-ABS test with 40 samples. Electronic detection of fluorescence and the high sensitivity obtained with laser excitation raise doubts about the relative value of quantitative immunofluorescence in the FTA-ABS test.

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