JP2002355027A - Incubator with filter function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a specified culture by sterilizing a nutritious liquid or test sample-containing solution and easily injecting an incubator with the sterilized nutritious liquid or test sample-containing solution. SOLUTION: This incubator is composed of a vessel body and a stopper member; wherein the vessel body is of bottle shape, whose neck is provided with an engagement means for maintaining the stopped condition of the stopper member, the stopper member is made up of a 1st member, a 2nd member and a 3rd member so as to be detachable from each other by an engagement means, the 1st member is provided with an engagement means for stopping the vessel body, the 3rd member is provided with an upper face plate which, in turn, is provided with a joint with a liquid injector, and there is placed an exchangeable 1st degerming filter between the 1st and the 2nd members, while a 2nd degerming filter between the 2nd and the 3rd members; foreign substances and/or sundry germs in a sample and sundry germs in a culture solution are caught by the 2nd degerming filter while the 1st degerming filter enables hindrance of bacteria present in the sample and the culture solution to intrusion into the incubator and also enables hindrance of contamination with sundry germs during culture.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an incubator having a filtration function for aseptically culturing samples of animal cells, plant cells, microalgae and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, this type of incubator is of a single-function type in which a sealing lid is screwed onto an opening thereof. Therefore, in order to cultivate a sample of animal cells, plant cells, microalgae, etc. under aseptic conditions, the culture solution is sterilized in advance, and the sterilized culture solution is opened in the sterilized incubator by opening the lid. All that is required is to inject and then cover the lid.

[0003]

However, in order to perform such a culture operation, not only special equipment such as a sterile room or a clean bench is required, but also contamination of bacteria during the culture operation (contamination) is required. With the possibility,
It was a relatively tedious task that required careful attention even for specialized researchers and engineers. Particularly, in the case of culturing animal cells, contamination is apt to occur when the medium is exchanged, which often causes failure of the culturing experiment.

[0004] Therefore, in the conventional incubator, no special equipment is required, and even a person who has no experience or an unfamiliarity with the aseptic culture operation can use the culture solution or the solution containing the test sample. There is a problem to be solved in aseptic so that it can be easily injected into an incubator.

[0005]

As a specific means for solving the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the present invention comprises a container body and a lid member, wherein the container body has a bottle shape and the neck portion has the lid. Engaging means for maintaining the cover of the member is formed, and the lid member is composed of a first member, a second member, and a third member, and these members are formed so as to be united and detachable by the engaging means, The first member is provided with an engagement means for covering the container body, and the third member is provided with an upper surface plate, and the upper surface plate is provided with a joint with a liquid injector, A first disinfecting filter is disposed between the first member and the second member, and a second disinfecting filter is disposed between the second member and the third member. An incubator having a filtration function is provided.

[0006] In the incubator having a filtering function according to the present invention, the first sterilizing filter and the second sterilizing filter are disposed together with a ring-shaped sealing material in a state where the peripheral portion is sandwiched therebetween. That the pore size of the first filter is different from the pore size of the second filter; the pore size of the first filter is about 0.2 μm or less, and the pore size of the second filter is 0.8 μm or less.
1.21.2 μm; as an additional requirement.

[0007] Preferably, the pore size of the first sterilization filter and the second sterilization filter engaged in the filtration function according to the present invention are different. This is because the functions of these sterilizing filters are slightly different, and the function of the second filter is to capture foreign substances and various bacteria in the test sample solution to be introduced into the incubator and bacteria that may be present in the culture solution. It is a fungus filter. The pore size of this second sanitizing filter is 0.8 to 1.2.
μm range. Prior to the culture, if necessary, the third sterilizing filter can be immediately removed or replaced by removing the third member of the lid member 2.

On the other hand, the first disinfecting filter prevents bacteria that may be present in the test sample solution or the culture solution introduced into the incubator from entering the incubator, and also allows various bacteria to enter the incubator during the culture. It functions to prevent intrusion,
Although the size of the bacteria is about 0.1 to 10 μm, the pore size of the first sterilization filter is generally about 0.2 μm (preferably smaller). If the solution containing the test sample is lake water, factory wastewater, etc., and the amount of suspended solids or suspended matter is large, set a pre-filter to prevent clogging of the second sterilization filter. It is important to do it.

The constituent parts other than the sterilizing filter, that is, constituent materials for the container body 1 and the lid member 2 can be used as long as they are general-purpose materials such as metals such as aluminum, glass materials, and synthetic resins. Considering the production cost and the like, a thermoplastic synthetic resin material is preferable, and examples thereof include a polyethylene resin and a polystyrene resin.

The cover member provided with the filtering function according to the present invention can be easily disassembled into the first to third member components, and the first and second sterilization filters are set between the members. The first member is used by being screwed to the neck of the container body and then subjected to an autoclave (120 ° C., wet heat sterilization).

In the incubator according to the present invention, fresh water such as lake water, well water, river water, factory waste water, etc. is first brought to the test water collection site together with an appropriate culture solution with the lid of the container body covered. A pure evaluation test can be performed by collecting the test water in the state, injecting it into an incubator, and then injecting a culture solution and carrying it back and culturing it to determine the contamination state of the test water. In addition, when culturing animal cells, it is necessary to replace the culture solution with fresh one after culturing for a certain period of time, and there is a high possibility that contamination will occur during the replacement of the culture solution. If such an incubator is used, there is no need to remove the lid member, and the animal cells utilize the property of growing while contacting the wall of the incubator, withdraw the old culture solution using a syringe, and then preferably use a separate syringe. Since the fresh culture solution is used to inject the culture solution into the incubator, the occurrence of contamination can be reliably prevented.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, the present invention will be described in detail based on the illustrated embodiment. The incubator is composed of a container body 1 and a cover member 2, and the container body 1 is, for example, It is formed of a metal such as aluminum, plastic material or glass material, and has a so-called bottle shape.
Has a configuration that can be screwed.

The lid member 2 is made of, for example, a metal or plastic material such as aluminum or the like, and is formed in a ring shape or a cylindrical shape with a first member 5, a second member 6, and a third member 7
And these are formed so that they can be united and separated. On the inner peripheral surface of the first member 5, there is formed an inner screw portion 8 which is tightly and airtightly screwed with the screw portion 4 of the neck portion 3, and the upper end of the first member 5 has an inner peripheral surface having a predetermined depth. Along with the stepped portion 9, an inner screw 10 is formed on the inner peripheral surface above the stepped portion 9, which is an engagement means for uniting and detaching.

The second member 6 has a step 11 corresponding to the step 9 of the first member 5 formed on the outer peripheral surface on the lower end side, and the inner screw 10 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the step 11. An external screw 12 to be screwed is formed, and a step 13 is formed on the inner peripheral surface on the upper end side, and the inner screw 1 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the step 13.
4 is formed. These outer screw 12 and inner screw 14
Are engagement means for so-called union and disengagement.

The third member 7 has a stepped portion 15 corresponding to the stepped portion 13 of the second member 6 on the outer peripheral surface on the lower end side, and the inner screw 14 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the stepped portion 15. An external screw 16 which is screwed into an engaging means for uniting and disengaging
To form An upper surface plate 17 is integrally formed on the upper part of the third member 7, and a joint portion 18 having a funnel shape and opening is formed at a substantially central portion of the upper surface plate 17.

The lid member 2 formed as described above combines the first member 5 to the third member 7 at the time of use, and the first member 5 is attached to the step 9 of the first member 5 at the time of the combination.
The disinfecting filter 19 is set, and if necessary, a sealing material 20 such as a rubber packing is placed thereon, and the second member 6 is screwed in. The peripheral portion of the first disinfecting filter 19 is in contact with the first member 5 and the first member 5. 2
The member 6 is pressed and held evenly.

Similarly, the second sterilizing filter 21 is set on the step portion 13 of the second member 6, the sealing material 22 such as rubber packing is placed, and the third member 7 is screwed on. The peripheral portion of the second sterilization filter 21 is pressed and clamped between the members.

When the incubator of the present invention having such a configuration is used, the lid member 2 combined with the container main body 1 is screwed onto the container body 1 to cover the container, and the autoclave treatment (12) is performed.
(0 ° C, wet heat sterilization) before use. In this case, since the lid member 2 is in a state of being covered with the container main body 1, the culture is performed using an appropriate injector 23 from the opening of the joint 18 provided in the third member constituting the lid member 2. A liquid such as a liquid or a test sample-containing solution is appropriately injected. At this time,
The distal end portion 23a of the injector 23 may be inserted into the opening of the joint 18, and the liquid sucked into the injector 23 may be discharged onto the second sterilization filter 21.

The discharged liquid is supplied to the second sterilization filter 21.
And dropped on the first sterilizing filter 19, finally filtered by the first sterilizing filter 19 into an aseptic state, and dropped into the container body 1 to be sequentially accumulated, thereby enabling necessary culture. It becomes.

When the incubator used for culturing is to be reused, the lid member 2 is removed from the container main body 1, the inside of the container main body 1 is washed, and the lid member 2 is disassembled to perform the first removal. Each of the first to third members 5 to 7 obtained by removing the bacteria filter 19 and the second bacteria-removing filter 21 and disassembling them, and the sealing material 2
0 and 22 are also washed respectively. Then, a new sterilization filter can be attached and used. Even in the case of this reuse, the entire incubator is autoclaved (120 ° C,
(Moist heat sterilization).

For a practically used sterilizing filter, the first sterilizing filter 19 has a pore size of about 0.2 μm and the second sterilizing filter has a pore size of about 1.0 μm. Without being carried out, an appropriate size can be arbitrarily selected depending on the type of culture. It goes without saying that many commercially available filters, for example, commercially available disposable filters such as Membrane's Membrane Filter (trademark) can be used.

[0022]

As described above, the incubator having a filtering function according to the present invention comprises a container body and a lid member, the container body having a bottle shape, and the neck of the container body being covered with the lid member. Is formed, the lid member is composed of a first member, a second member, and a third member, and these members are formed so as to be united and detachable by the engagement member, and the first member Is provided with engaging means for covering the container body, the third member is provided with an upper plate, and the upper plate is provided with a joint portion with a liquid injector, and the first member is provided with The first disinfection filter is disposed between the second member and the second member, and the second disinfection filter is disposed between the second member and the third member. Of bacteria and bacteria in the test sample solution and culture The first bacteria-eliminating filter captures bacteria that may be present in the culture solution, and prevents the bacteria that may be present in the test sample solution and the culture solution from entering the incubator by the first eradication filter. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of contamination by preventing the invasion of, so that no special equipment is required, and even those who do not have experience or are not proficient in sterile culture operation, An excellent effect is obtained in that the culture solution and the test sample-containing solution can be sterilized and easily injected into the incubator.

Further, the lid member constituting the incubator has a configuration capable of being united and separated, and the first and second sterilization filters attached to the lid member can be easily replaced. Cleaning the container body and the lid member,
There is an excellent effect that if a new filter is set, it can be used repeatedly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a cross section of a main part of an incubator according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Container main body, 2 Lid member, 3 Neck, 4 Screw part (engaging means), 5 First member, 6 Second member, 7 Third member, 8 Inner screw part (engaging means), 9, 11, 13 , 15 stepped portion, 10, 14 internal screw (engaging means), 12, 16 external screw (engaging means), 17 top plate, 18 joint, 19 first sanitizing filter, 20, 22 sealing material (rubber packing) ), 21 second sterilization filter, 23 injector, 23a tip of injector.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Takenaka 4-15 Akebonocho, Gifu-shi, Gifu MAC Research Institute

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A container body comprising a container body and a lid member, wherein the container body has a bottle shape, and an engagement means for maintaining a lid of the lid member is formed on a neck portion thereof, and the lid member has a first shape. It is composed of a member, a second member, and a third member, and these members are formed so as to be united and detachable by an engaging means, and the first member is provided with an engaging means for covering the container body. A top plate is formed on the third member, and a joint portion with a liquid injector is provided on the top plate; a first sterilization filter is provided between the first member and the second member;
An incubator having a filtration function, wherein a second sterilization filter is exchangeably disposed between the second member and the third member. 2. The filter according to claim 1, wherein the first sterilizing filter and the second sterilizing filter are disposed together with a ring-shaped sealing material in a state where a peripheral portion thereof is sandwiched. Incubator having a filtration function. 3. The incubator having a filtration function according to claim 1, wherein a pore size of the first sterilization filter and a pore size of the second sterilization filter are different. 4. The filter according to claim 1, wherein a pore size of the first sterilization filter is about
0.2 μm or less, the pore size of the second sterilization filter is 0.8 to 1.
The incubator having a filtration function according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the diameter is in a range of 2 µm.