1 .1
W h a t i s A TP?
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is an
organic m olecule t hat is used by living
cells as t he m ain sour ce of energy .
Anim al, plant, bacterial, yeast, and m old
cells produce and break down ATP in or der
t o drive a num ber of biological processes.
I t is t he m ain energy -t ransfer m olecule in
the cell. The presence of ATP on a sur face indicates t hat the surface
has not been adequat ely cleaned and has t he potent ial to harbor and
support bact er ial gr ow th. The residue m ay also contain hazardous
m ater ial including pot ent ial aller gens. Ther efor e, ATP is an ideal
indicator of sur face cleanliness.
1 .2
H o w D o e s t h e Lu m i n o m e t e r W o r k ?
The lum inom et er det ect s ATP using a chem ical react ion.
Lucifer in/ Lucifer ase + ATP = Light
A sam ple is collected using a Hygiena ATP device ( see section 1.4) .
Surface tests com e wit h a buffer m oistened sw ab bud t hat aids in the
r em ov al of an y biolog ical m at er ial ( ATP) on eit her a wet or d ry
sur face. Once t he sam ple is collect ed and exposed t o the chem ist ry
(buffer) in t he Hygiena dev ice, the ATP cont ained inside the collected
cells will be released. ATP released from inside these cells, along with
any free ATP picked up from the surface by t he sw ab, is now available
to react wit h t he chem istry in t he bulb of the device. When t he
Lucifer in/ Luciferase enzy m es ar e ex posed t o ATP, light is produced.
The light is detect ed and m easur ed by the lum inom et er. The am ount
of light det ect ed is dir ectly proport ional to the quantity of ATP
collect ed and accor dingly is propor tional t o t he am ount of residue in
t he t ested sam ple. The higher the reading, t he higher the am ount of
cont am inat ion in t he sam ple.
1 .3
W h a t i s a n RLU ?
The lum inom eter displays results in Relat iv e Light Unit ( RLU) v alues.
The light pr oduced from t he Luciferin/ Luciferase and ATP reaction in
t he sw ab is em it ted in t he form of phot ons. A phot on is an elem ent ar y
part icle and t he basic unit of light . The lum inom et er det ect s t hese
photons and displays t hem directly as RLU values. The m ore light
det ect ed by the lum inom eter , t he gr eat er the RLU value. The
quant it at iv e RLU reading is then com par ed against user
progr am mable t hresholds to provide an over all qualit at ive pass ,
caut ion or fail result.
The lum inom eter detect s total ATP, not j ust ATP from bacteria, yeast ,
and m old but also the ATP from any t hing organic in the sam ple.