Patent ID: 7244394

Claim:
A kit for assaying an analyte of interest in a tear fluid of an eye, comprising: a strip for collecting the tear fluid, wherein said strip has a first end and an opposite second end, wherein said strip is made of a hydrogel material in substantially dry state and is characterized by having a substantially uniform swelling along the hydrogel strip from the first end to the second end when fully wicked by a tear fluid and by having a correlation between the volume of tear uptake by said strip and the length of a tear-wicked end portion of said strip, wherein said hydrogel material is obtained by polymerization or copolymerization of at least one hydrophilic monomer in the presence of or in the absence of additional monomers and/or macromers and is selected from the group consisting of poly(vinyl alcohol), modified polyvinylalcohol, poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone), poly(vinyl alcohol) with polycarboxylic acids, polyacrylamide, polymethacrylamide, silicone-containing hydrogels, polyurethane, polyurea, and mixtures thereof; and a testing agent composition which specifically reacts with the analyte of interest to form a detectable signal.