Patent ID: 7790470

Claim:
A method for stirring a liquid sample containing an analyte and a reagent, said method comprising the steps of: (A) providing a cell comprising: a liquid sample retaining section having a plurality of particles with a surface covered with said reagent, and a liquid sample supply inlet, and supplying a liquid sample containing an analyte from said liquid sample supply inlet to said liquid sample retaining section; and (B) stirring said liquid sample and said reagent by the movement of said particles caused by the flow of said liquid sample in said liquid sample retaining section resulting from the supply of said liquid sample, to separate said reagent from the surface of the particles and to obtain a liquid mixture containing said liquid sample, said reagent, which is dissolved in the liquid sample and said particles, wherein said reagent includes a specific binding substance capable of specifically binding with an analyte in said liquid sample, and an electric charge of the surface of said particles and an electric charge of said specific binding substance have a positive polarity in said liquid mixture, wherein, the method further comprises the following step between step (A) and step (B): a step of adjusting pH in said liquid mixture to be a pH of less than the isoelectric point pI of the reagent.