Figure 1.

(A) Matrix effects of human tear analyzed by micro well protein antibody array. Wells contain a cocktail of standard protein of known concentration (Std), 10μl OTF or 3μl CTF collected by micromicrocapillary tube. Figures demonstrate non specific binding and blocking activity which varies dramatically in the OTF and CTF samples from the same donor. More information on these phemonena are detailed elsewhere.³ (B) Background was reduced by addition of a pre-blocking step and modification of the collection protocol. Normal and pathological tears were collected by Schirmer strip and eluted in blocking buffer. Examples of cytokine expression are shown for tears collected from patients with chronic allergy (CA), Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and controls (N, normal ocular surface) using the Schirmer strip. OTF-capillary sample demonstrates persistence of a residual level of matrix effect in tears collected by micro capillary tube despite the addition of a blocking step. The formats of the two arrays are depicted.