JP2000009740A - Blood text device and dispensation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To execute detection and concentration measurement of suspended matter in a blood specimen with high accuracy. SOLUTION: A light-emitting part 36 is installed on the side of a nozzle tip 10 of a nozzle head 16, and specimen sucked into the nozzle tip 10 is irradiated with the light. A light-receiving part 38 is arranged so as to obliquely face a light irradiation region from the upper direction, and detects the light scattered from the region. The specimen sucked into the nozzle tip 10 is measured optically by the scattered-light measurement. Since each specimen can be measured in simultaneous progress with dispensation, special operation for the scattered-light measurement is not required. Also, wastage of the specimen is not produced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a blood test apparatus and a dispensing apparatus having a function of performing a blood test at the time of dispensing, and particularly has a function of optically measuring suspended substances such as chyle in a blood sample. About things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique for optically testing a blood sample such as serum, there has been an analysis method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. S61-188693 and Japanese Patent Publication No. S61-18982. These irradiate a blood sample with light of one or more wavelengths and measure the absorbance of the sample. Since the wavelength characteristics of the absorbance of substances such as chyle, hemolyzed hemoglobin, and bilirubin in a sample are generally different from each other, for example, the degree of the content of the substance in the sample is measured by a colorimetric analysis method comparing absorbance at different wavelengths. can do. The above publication also suggests that the degree can be measured using one appropriate wavelength.

[0003] A general automatic analyzer for blood samples is
Handle samples stored in containers such as test tubes. A label with a bar code or the like is affixed to the container to identify the samples from each other. Therefore, in the method of transmitting light as described above, there is a problem that the label tends to be in the way, and for example, it is necessary to transfer the label to another container and perform the measurement. In order to solve this problem, a dispensing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-19903 has been proposed. This dispensing apparatus performs an analysis based on the above-described absorbance measurement during a series of operations for subdividing an original sample for various tests. The dispensing device applies light to the sample aspirated by a transparent (or translucent) nozzle. Irradiate to measure the absorbance. Since no label is attached to the nozzle of the dispensing device, the blood sample measurement using the absorbance is easily performed.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above prior arts are
Based on the absorbance of the light transmitted through the blood sample, the presence or absence of substances such as chyle, hemolyzed hemoglobin, and bilirubin in the sample is detected and the concentration is measured. Among these substances, hemolyzed hemoglobin and bilirubin have absorbance peaks in the visible light region. On the other hand, the absorbance due to the suspended substance in the specimen such as chyle is exclusively due to scattering, and the spectrum of the absorbance does not have a characteristic peak. Therefore, in the conventional measurement based on the absorbance, there is a problem that the sensitivity / accuracy with respect to hemolyzed hemoglobin and bilirubin to suspended substances such as chyle is low.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a blood test apparatus and a dispensing apparatus capable of accurately detecting suspended substances in a blood sample and measuring the concentration thereof. With the goal.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, a blood test apparatus according to the present invention comprises a light irradiating section for irradiating a blood sample with light, and a scattered light for detecting scattered light from the blood sample. It is characterized by including a detecting unit and an analyzing unit for analyzing a suspended substance contained in the blood sample based on the scattered light.

According to the present invention, the scattered light detector detects a component scattered from the blood sample in the light irradiated on the blood sample by the light irradiator. The scattered light is mainly generated by a suspended substance in the specimen. The analyzer detects a suspended substance in the specimen based on the presence or absence or the intensity of the scattered light.
The light irradiated on the sample is, from the irradiated sample region,
Components that are transmitted directly, scattered by suspended materials,
For example, it is output in the form of a component that is reflected and scattered by a container or the like that stores the specimen. The scattered light detector, for example,
The scattered light component is arranged in a direction in which the scattered light component is strong and the other components are weakly outputted.

In another blood test apparatus according to the present invention, the blood sample is held in a sample holder capable of transmitting irradiation light from the light irradiation unit, and the light irradiation unit transmits the irradiation light to the sample holder. A defocus state is set above, and a focus state is set in an area where the blood sample is held.

According to the present invention, the existence region of the blood specimen is limited to a certain space region by the specimen holder such as a container such as a test tube, a slide glass, or a tube. The light irradiator is located in the area where the blood sample is
Focus the irradiation light. That is, the focus is adjusted to the area where the blood sample is present (focus state) to reduce the influence of reflection on the surface of the sample holder and scattering in the material, while the focus is on the sample holder. Are configured to be in a defocused state in which

A dispensing apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that a nozzle for storing a blood sample, which is at least partially transparent, a light irradiator for irradiating light to the blood sample in the nozzle, A scattered light detection unit for detecting scattered light from, and an analysis unit for analyzing a suspended substance contained in the blood sample based on the scattered light, for testing a blood sample at the time of dispensing. is there.

According to the present invention, after the blood sample is aspirated and discharged by the nozzle, the scattered light measurement of the blood sample in the nozzle is performed. That is, by irradiating the nozzle with light and detecting and measuring the scattered light, the presence / absence and concentration of the suspended substance of the blood sample such as chyle are measured. According to the present invention, since the blood sample can be tested based on the scattered light simultaneously with the dispensing operation, even if the test is difficult to perform based on the light irradiation / scattering because the label is attached to the sample container. It is not necessary to replace the specimen with another container for the examination, that is, it is possible to eliminate time and waste of the sample.

In another dispensing apparatus according to the present invention, the light irradiation unit irradiates light from a side of the nozzle to a target point of the nozzle, and the scattered light detection unit includes the nozzle including the target point. And is arranged at a position shifted from a plane perpendicular to.

The light emitted from the side of the nozzle is reflected on the surface of the tubular nozzle. The reflected light and the directly transmitted light of the irradiated light spread from the irradiated area (irradiation target point) mainly along a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the nozzle. According to the present invention, the scattered light detection unit is disposed at a position having a distance from the plane of the scattered light detection unit, so that the influence of reflected light or directly transmitted light on the nozzle surface is avoided.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a dispensing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the entire configuration.

The dispensing apparatus according to the present embodiment has a nozzle tip 1
It has a blood test unit 12 for measuring suspended substances such as chyle contained in serum based on scattered light of blood serum, which is sucked into the blood sample.

The nozzle tip 10 is a metallic nozzle base 1
4 and is a so-called disposable chip. The nozzle tip 10 is made of, for example, a transparent resin. The nozzle tip 10 and the nozzle base 14 constitute a dispensing nozzle integrally therewith.

The nozzle head 16 includes an X drive section 18 and a Y drive section.
It is supported by the drive unit 20 and is movable in the X and Y directions. The nozzle head 16 is provided with a Z drive unit 22, which holds the nozzle base 14 in a vertically movable manner. X drive unit 18, Y
The nozzle transport mechanism 2 is driven by the drive unit 20 and the Z drive unit 22.
4 are configured.

A dispensing pump 28 is connected to the nozzle base 14 via an air hose 26.
The sample is sucked and discharged by the action of.

The dispensing control unit 30 controls the dispensing pump 28,
The control unit controls the nozzle transfer mechanism 24 and the blood test unit 12, and also controls the transfer of a rack 34 holding a plurality of test tubes 32.

Next, the blood test section 12 will be described in detail.
In the nozzle head 16, the light emitting unit 36 is fixedly arranged so as to be located on one side of the nozzle chip 10 in a state where the nozzle chip 10 is pulled up. A drive signal is supplied from a power supply 40 to the light emitting unit 36, whereby the light emitting unit 36 functions as a light irradiating unit that irradiates a predetermined measurement light toward the nozzle chip 10. On the other hand, a light receiving section 38 is provided as a scattered light detecting section for detecting scattered light from a region of the nozzle chip 10 irradiated with light. The light receiving section 38 is fixedly arranged so as to face the irradiation area. Light emitting unit 36 and light receiving unit 38
Various configurations can be adopted as the configuration, and a more specific configuration will be described later.

The irradiation of light from the light emitting section 36 and the reception of scattered light by the light receiving section 38 in the blood test section 12 may be performed in a state where the nozzle chip 10 is stopped at a position where the nozzle chip 10 is pulled up, or a Z driving section. 22 to move the nozzle tip 10 within a predetermined range in the vertical direction,
0 may be performed for different positions.

The light receiving signal output from the light receiving section 38 is amplified by an amplifier 42 and then converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter 44. The received light signal converted into the digital signal is sent to the data processing unit 46, and the intensity of the scattered light is measured based on the received light signal. The data processing unit 46 also has a function as an analysis unit that analyzes suspended substances contained in serum based on the scattered light intensity.
The analysis result of the data processing unit 46 is displayed on the display 48,
The information is output to, for example, a biochemical analyzer as needed. The output path is indicated by reference numeral 100 in FIG.

Therefore, according to the dispensing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the suspended substance in the serum contained in the nozzle tip 10 is measured simultaneously with the dispensing, and various analyzes are performed based on the measurement results. be able to.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an example of a structure related to the light emitting section 36 and the light receiving section 38 of the blood test section 12 as viewed from the side. As described above, the nozzle tip 10 is
Can be moved up and down freely. The light emitting unit 36 is, for example, an LED 5
A light source such as 0, a slit 52, a lens 54, and the like. Note that a halogen lamp, a deuterium discharge tube, or the like can be used as the light source instead of the LED 50.

The light emitted from the LED 50 is converged by the slit 52 to a light beam within a predetermined angle range toward the nozzle chip 10, and further condensed by the lens 54. The collected light 56 is applied to the nozzle chip 10 from the side of the nozzle chip 10, for example, from a direction perpendicular to the axis thereof. The focal point of the collected light is set near the axis of the nozzle tip 10. By focusing on the area 57 of the serum contained in the nozzle tip 10, the scattered light 58 from the limited space area of the serum area can be observed, and the spatial resolution of the observation is improved. At the same time, the light is defocused on the wall of the nozzle tip 10 because the light is out of focus, so that the influence of the scattered light from the wall is spatially averaged, and the influence is subtracted and removed as background noise. Processing becomes possible.

The scattered light 58 is observed by a light receiving sensor 60 constituting the light receiving section 38. The direction of the light receiving sensor 60 is arranged so as to face the focal position of the light emitted from the LED 50. Further, the light receiving sensor 60 is disposed at a position including a focal point of light and away from a plane 62 perpendicular to the nozzle chip 10. For example, in the example shown in FIG.
Are arranged so as to face the irradiated area from obliquely above. Thereby, it is reflected on the surface of the nozzle tip 10,
The reflected light that spreads exclusively on the plane or the nozzle tip 1
It is possible to prevent the direct transmission light of the light incident on the light receiving element 60 from being incident on the light receiving sensor 60. Further, the light receiving sensor 60 is disposed around the axis of the nozzle chip 10 in a direction in which scattered light is strong, for example, a position where forward scattering can be captured. Since the light receiving sensor 60 for measuring the scattered light is not on the extension of the light incident on the nozzle chip 10, a light receiving sensor for measuring the absorbance as described in the related art is separately arranged on the extension. It is also possible to configure the blood test section 12 to perform both the measurement of the suspended substance based on the scattered light intensity and the measurement of hemolyzed hemoglobin, bilirubin and the like based on the absorbance.

For accurate measurement, it is desirable that no light from other than the light emitting section 36 enter the light receiving section 38 and the area to be measured in the nozzle chip 10. Therefore, for example, the light-emitting unit 36 and the light-emitting unit 36 are housed in a light-shielding case.

In the dispensing apparatus of the present embodiment, a blood test process is performed on the serum using the time when the serum is stored in the nozzle tip 10 for the dispensing operation. That is,
The nozzle tip 10 is pulled down from above the test tube 32 (FIG. 1) containing the sample, and after the sample is sucked, the nozzle tip 10 is pulled up. Then, before the sucked sample is discharged to another test tube or the like, the measurement of the suspended substance using the scattered light is performed.

As described above, the sample is not sucked into the nozzle tip 10 only for measuring the suspended substance, but the serum sample is inspected during the dispensing operation. Problems such as wasted sample time and wasted time can be solved.

The nozzle tip 10 is strictly controlled with a certain quality, and since no label is usually attached to the nozzle tip, it is possible to measure the scattered light from the serum sample under good conditions.

The measurement of the scattered light can already be started, for example, when the nozzle tip 10 is pulled up.
Thereby, a predetermined range in the vertical direction of the nozzle tip 10 can be continuously irradiated, and scattered light in the range can be observed. Suspended substances contained in serum include fine substances such as chyle and relatively large filamentous substances such as fibrin. As described above, by scanning a predetermined range with irradiation light and observing the scattered light, for example, when fibrin is contained in serum, a spatial change in the scattered light intensity can be detected. That is, a difference in the scattered light intensity between when the light hits the fibrin and when it does not hit the fibrin by scanning can be observed. Based on this phenomenon, the present apparatus configured to perform vertical scanning can detect not only chyle in serum but also suspended substances having different sizes, for example, fibrin. Other fine suspended substances include neutral fats dispersed in serum and the like, which can also be detected by the present apparatus.

As described above, the dispensing apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that a suspended substance in a blood sample can be inspected by using scattered light, and the dispensing apparatus has an inspection function. This means that even if a label such as a test tube containing a serum sample is labeled and it is difficult to measure with scattered light as it is, measurement can be performed during dispensing work. It also has features. Here, the former of these two features of the invention does not necessarily have to be implemented in the dispensing device. That is, the function of blood test section 12 described above can be made independent as a blood test apparatus.

Such a blood test apparatus has, for example, a space between the light-emitting unit 36 and the light-receiving unit 38 in which a container containing a sample can be set, and a transparent or translucent test tube or the like is provided in the space. The scattered light measurement is performed by arranging the sample housed in the sample holder.

[0035]

According to the present invention, there is obtained an effect that a suspended substance in a sample can be measured with high accuracy based on scattered light from the blood sample. In addition, since the dispensing device is provided with the function and the scattered light measurement can be performed simultaneously while performing a series of dispensing operations, the sample is transferred for the measurement or the sample is exchanged between containers. This eliminates the necessity of performing the above-mentioned operations, and has the advantage that time and waste of the sample can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an entire configuration of a dispensing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a structure related to a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit of the blood test unit as viewed from a side.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 nozzle tip, 12 blood test section, 14 nozzle base, 16 nozzle head, 24 nozzle transport mechanism, 3
6 light emitting section, 38 light receiving section, 46 data processing section, 50
LED, 54 lens, 60 light receiving sensor.

Continued on front page F-term (reference) 2G045 AA13 CA25 DA39 DA51 DA53 FA13 FA14 FA23 FA24 FA26 GC10 GC11 HA06 HA17 JA07 2G057 AA01 AA02 AB01 AB06 AB07 AB08 AC01 BC07 BC10 DB01 DB05 DC01 DC07 2G058 CB15 EA02 EB01 GA03 ED02 AA05 AA06 BB06 BB13 CC16 CC18 DD12 EE01 EE02 FF01 FF06 GG02 HH02 JJ11 KK01 LL01 MM09 NN01 NN05 PP04 PP06

Claims (4)

[Claims] A light irradiating unit that irradiates the blood sample with light; a scattered light detecting unit that detects scattered light from the blood sample; and a suspended substance contained in the blood sample based on the scattered light. A blood test apparatus, comprising: an analysis unit that analyzes the blood sample. 2. The blood test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the blood sample is held in a sample holder that can transmit irradiation light from the light irradiation unit, and the light irradiation unit transmits the irradiation light to the sample holder. A blood test apparatus, wherein a defocus state is set on a sample holder and a focus state is set in a region where the blood sample is held. 3. A nozzle for storing a blood sample, at least a part of which is transparent, a light irradiator for irradiating light to the blood sample in the nozzle, and detecting scattered light from the blood sample. A scattered light detector, and an analyzer for analyzing a suspended substance contained in the blood sample based on the scattered light, wherein the blood sample is tested at the time of dispensing. Note device. 4. The dispensing device according to claim 3, wherein the light irradiation unit irradiates light from a side of the nozzle to a target point of the nozzle, and the scattered light detection unit includes the target point. Wherein the dispensing device is arranged at a position shifted from a plane perpendicular to the nozzle.