REDUCTION IN SUBSTANCE FOR INHIBITING NUCLEIC ACID HYBRIDIZATION

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the subject substance capable of inhibiting the amplification and detection of a nucleic acid by bringing a sample cell into contact with a reagent capable of solubilizing an inhibitor of nucleic acid hybridization without releasing the nucleic acid from the cell before dissolving the sample cell and then separating the cell. SOLUTION: This method is to reduce the amount of a substance capable of inhibiting a nucleic hybridization process from a sample containing a cell such as a human clinical sample, e.g. a sputum sample, a blood sample, a urine sample or a cerebrospinal fluid sample and an environmental sample, e.g. a veterinary clinical sample, a water sample, an air sample or a soil sample. The method comprises bringing the sample cell into contact with a chaotropic reagent capable of solubilizing the substance without releasing a nucleic acid from the cell (e.g. guanidine isothiocyanate), etc., before dissolving the cell, then separating the cell from the reagent and thereby reducing the objective inhibitor capable of inhibiting the amplification of a target nucleic acid sequence and directly inhibiting the nucleic acid probe hybridizing reaction used for detecting the target nucleic acid.