JP2003106963A - Embedding tray and its manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce man-hours of preparation before slicing of a paraffin block embedded with a specimen. SOLUTION: Inclination of a side wall 12 surrounding a cavity 10 of the embedding tray is changed. An angle α between a side wall lower part 13 and a bottom wall 11 is within a range of about 90-96 deg., and an angle β between a side wall upper part 14 and the bottom wall 11 is a value extensively larger than the angle α, for example about 120 deg.. A shape of the paraffin block formed by a cavity lower part 10a is substantially a prismatic shape, and labor of fixing the shape of the paraffin block before slicing it is extensively reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an embedding dish in which a sample such as a cut human tissue is cast with a casting material such as paraffin.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When observing a sample such as a human tissue with a microscope, first, a sample processing container called a cassette is used to perform a process such as a drug process on the sample. For an outline of the drug treatment and a specific example of the cassette, see Japanese Patent Application No. 11-296806 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-116670) filed by the same applicant as the present application.

A specimen that has been subjected to chemical treatment and the like is cast into paraffin using a mold called an embedding dish, and then sliced together with the paraffin into thin pieces for microscopic observation. The specific procedure will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 1A, the embedding dish 1
00 is placed on an appropriate table (not shown), the sample S is stored in the cavity 101 of the embedding dish 100, and the cassette 120 is placed on the embedding dish 101. Then, the molten paraffin P is poured from above the cassette 120. A plurality of holes 121 are formed in the bottom wall of the cassette 120, and the paraffin P fills the cavity 101 of the embedding dish 100 through the holes 120. Next, the embedding dish 101 is placed on the cooling plate 140 as it is. The paraffin P is deprived of heat by the cooling plate 140 and the outside air and solidifies. At this time, the paraffin P existing in the cavity 101 of the embedding dish 100 is combined with the paraffin P existing in the cassette 120 through the paraffin P existing in the hole 120 of the cassette 120, and the cassette 120 and the paraffin P are connected.
Are integrated (above, casting process).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (b), the embedding dish 1
Remove the cassette 120 from 00. A substantially pyramidal truncated paraffin block P1 is firmly attached to the bottom surface of the removed cassette 120 (the above is the mold releasing step).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1 (c), paraffin is formed so that a range of about 2 mm from the tip of the paraffin block P1 becomes a prismatic shape having a predetermined cross-sectional shape (shape suitable for mounting on the slide). Unnecessary paraffin P that blocks the block P1 and interferes with subsequent processes
Remove 2 (the above is the shaping and removal process).

Next, as shown in FIG. 1D, the tip of the paraffin block P1 is thinly sliced to prepare a plurality of thin pieces containing the sample S (the above is the slicing step). In addition,
In the shaping / removing step, the paraffin block P1
The tip of the is made into a prismatic shape, because it is inconvenient for subsequent handling if the size is different for each thin piece,
This is because each sliced slice has the same shape.

The thin piece containing the specimen thus obtained is placed on a slide and subjected to microscopic observation.

The following functions are required for the embedding dish used as described above. (1)
Easy to remove the mold. (2) Be able to form a cast product that can minimize the number of steps required for the shaping / removing process.
(3) The molten paraffin is solidified in a well-balanced manner so that shrinkage cracks and the like do not occur during solidification. (4) Rapid solidification of molten paraffin.

In order to satisfy the above (1), the shape of the cavity of the conventional embedding dish is generally a truncated pyramid shape.
In short, a sufficient draft is made to facilitate removal of the paraffin block P1 from the embedding dish. However, if this is done, (2) above
Will not be satisfied. That is, if the draft is made large, the shaping process described above takes time, so it is preferable to make the draft as small as possible.

As an embedding dish developed to satisfy both (1) and (2) above, a patent application filed by the same applicant as the present application: Japanese Patent Application No. 11-296400 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-296400).
No. 116669). The embedding dish disclosed here separates the part of the bottom wall of the cavity,
The paraffin block can be easily extracted from the embedding dish by extruding the bottom wall after the paraffin is solidified, which satisfies the contradictory requirements of minimization of the draft and ease of demolding. However, the embedding dish is a separate body 2
It cannot be denied that the use of parts makes the handling a little more complicated, the parts storage becomes more cumbersome, and the manufacturing cost increases.

By the way, most of the conventional embedding dishes are press-molded stainless steel. Although the stainless steel embedding dish has the advantage of high durability, stainless steel has a large specific heat and a high thermal conductivity (compared to resin), so the requirements of (3) and (4) above are met. There are many problems. First of all, in a stainless steel embedding dish, the cast paraffin immediately starts solidification, so that uneven casting is likely to occur.

In order to prevent this, the embedding dish is usually subjected to residual heat before casting, but if this is done, conversely, the solidification time will be remarkably lengthened and workability will be greatly deteriorated. Further, if a cooling plate is used to accelerate cooling, only the portion in contact with the cooling plate is rapidly cooled due to the high thermal conductivity of stainless steel, internal strain may occur, and cracks may occur in the paraffin block.

Further, since the stainless steel embedding dish is usually manufactured by press molding, it is difficult to form the cavity portion so as to satisfy the above (1) and (2).

As described above, since the stainless steel embedding dish has no merit other than the high durability, the resin embedding dish is being studied in recent years. However, even if it is not made of stainless steel, there is a problem related to solidification even if it is made of resin, and there is no embedding dish that can satisfy both (3) and (4) above at a level that can be completely satisfied. Is.

[0016]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a first object thereof is to easily remove the mold, and to perform a shaping / removing step after casting. An object of the present invention is to provide an embedding dish that can reduce the number of steps required.

A second object of the present invention is to provide an embedding dish capable of rapidly solidifying molten paraffin while ensuring casting quality.

[0018]

In order to achieve the above first object, the present invention provides an embedding tray for performing embedding processing in which a specimen is cast with a casting material such as paraffin. The cavity is defined by a bottom wall and a plurality of sidewalls provided upright on the periphery of the bottom wall, and the cavity is located above the cavity lower portion on the bottom wall side and the cavity lower portion. And an upper part of the cavity surrounding the lower part of the side wall, and an angle α formed by the inner surface of the part of the side wall surrounding the lower part of the cavity and the inner surface of the bottom wall is such that the upper part of the cavity surrounds the upper part of the cavity. It is characterized in that it is smaller than the angle β formed by the inner surface of the open portion and the inner surface of the bottom wall.

In order to achieve the above second object, the present invention is an embedding dish for performing an embedding process in which a specimen is cast with a casting material such as paraffin. A plurality of side walls are provided upright on the periphery to define a cavity into which the casting material is injected together with the bottom wall, and are provided so as to surround an opening of the cavity, and a mounting material for mounting a base material such as a cassette. With a storage wall,
The thickness of the bottom wall is smaller than the thickness of the side wall and the placement wall.

In order to integrally mold such an embedding dish by injection molding using a resin material, at least the portion forming the bottom wall of the mold is made slidable, and is placed in the cavity of the mold. It can be easily manufactured by filling the molten resin and then sliding the slidable portion.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

The embedding dish 1 has a mounting wall 2 which provides a mounting surface 2a on which a cassette for sample processing is mounted. An edge wall 3 is erected on the periphery of the mounting wall 2 so as to surround the mounting wall 2.

The contour of the peripheral edge of the mounting wall 2 exactly matches the contour of the peripheral edge of the sample processing cassette mounted thereon, and further, the mounting wall 2 and the edge wall 3 are The radius of the corner R part 4 connecting the two is also as small as possible (specifically, 0.
It is set to about 5 mm). Therefore, it is possible to minimize the unnecessary paraffin P2 attached to the periphery of the cassette as described in the section of the prior art.

A depression is provided at the center of the mounting wall 2, and this depression serves as a cavity 10 for accommodating a sample when the embedding process is performed. The cavity 10 has a bottom wall 11
And a plurality of side walls 12 provided upright on the periphery of the bottom wall 11. Each side wall 12 is composed of a substantially vertical side wall lower portion 13 and a largely inclined side wall upper portion 14.

Legs 20 are provided on both sides of the long side of the embedding dish 1. The height of the lower end of the leg 20 matches the height of the lower surface of the bottom wall 11. The leg 20 and the side wall 12 facing the leg 20 are connected by a rib 21. With this structure, the rigidity of the entire embedding dish 1 is maintained even when the temperature of the embedding dish 1 is increased by injecting the molten paraffin into the cavity 10. The leg 20 has a plurality of windows 22 formed therein. The window 22 allows the air flow 23 shown in FIG. 3 to smoothly flow when the molten paraffin is injected into the cavity 10, and promotes the solidification of the molten paraffin.

Next, the cavity 10 will be described in detail.
As shown in detail in particular in FIG. 3, the cavity 10 is
It is composed of a cavity lower part 10a located on the bottom wall 11 side and surrounded by a plurality of side wall lower parts 13, and a cavity upper part 10b located above the cavity lower part 10a and surrounded by a plurality of side wall upper parts 14. The lower part 10a of the cavity is
This is a part of the paraffin block in which the sample is actually embedded, that is, a part of the paraffin block that has been sliced in the slice step of the paraffin block described in the section of the prior art.

In the embedding dish 1 according to the present embodiment, the shape of the paraffin block after the shaping / removing step described above in the section of the prior art (see FIG. 1C) is the paraffin block after the casting is completed. The cavity lower part 10a has a substantially prismatic shape (thin prismatic plate shape) so that the cavity can be obtained with little or no shaving.
In addition, the cavity upper portion 10b has a substantially truncated pyramid shape so that the mold can be easily removed.

That is, the angle α formed by the inner surface of the bottom wall 11 (upper side surface in the figure) and the inner surface of the side wall lower portion 13 is set to 90 degrees or a value larger than 90 degrees and as close as possible to 90 degrees. ing. In other words, the draft for removing the paraffin block from the cavity lower part 10a is 0 degree or a value larger than 0 degree and is 0 degree or less.
It is set to a value as close as possible. The angle α is most preferably 90 degrees (actually, since the embedding dish 1 itself has flexibility, if the embedding dish 1 is formed as shown in the drawing, even if the angle α is 90 degrees, paraffin is included. It is possible to remove the block from the embedding dish 1.). However, the embedding dish 1
Is manufactured by the resin injection molding method, the angle α is a value corresponding to the minimum draft required to remove the embedded dish 1 from the mold for molding the embedded dish 1. It is set to around 5 degrees for other products. Considering the above points, it is preferable to set the angle α to a value as small as possible within the range of 90 to 96 degrees depending on the manufacturing method of the embedding dish 1.

The angle β formed by the inner surface of the bottom wall 11 (upper side surface in the figure) and the inner surface of the side wall upper portion 14 is set to a value sufficiently larger than the angle α. The angle β can be set to any value as long as the paraffin block can be easily extracted from the embedding dish 1.
In the illustrated embodiment, it is set to about 120 degrees.

As described above, the angle α formed by the lower side wall 13 and the bottom wall 11 is small, and the upper side wall 14 and the bottom wall 11 are small.
By setting a large angle β formed by and, it is possible to satisfy the contradictory requirements of reduction of the labor in the shaping / removing process and facilitation of mold release.

The height h of the lower portion 10a of the cavity is
It is preferable to set it to 1 to 3 mm. If the height h is smaller than 1 mm, it becomes difficult to ensure that the specimen is surely embedded in the region corresponding to the lower cavity portion 10a, and if the height h is larger than 3 mm, the paraffin block is pulled out at the time of mold release. Because it will be difficult.
The height h of the lower portion 10a of the cavity is equal to that of the cavity 1
It is set to about 1/3 of the total height H of 0.

The relationship between the angle α formed by the lower side wall 13 and the bottom wall 11 and the angle β formed by the upper side wall 14 and the bottom wall 11 is a relationship that holds for all of the plurality of side walls 12.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, setting of the wall thickness of each part of the embedding dish 1 will be described.

The wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 is the wall thickness t of other portions.
It is set to a value smaller than 13, t14 and t2.
The wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 depends on the cooling plate 140 in the casting process.
Since it is the part that contacts the paraffin, it has a great influence on the solidification process of paraffin. When the embedding dish 1 is a resin injection-molded product, the thermal conductivity of the bottom wall 11 is low (compared to when the embedding dish 1 is made of metal), the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 is If it is not thin enough, the solidification rate of paraffin will be significantly slowed. As a result of the experiment, the inventor of the present application has found that the thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 is
It was found that the solidification rate of paraffin becomes sufficiently high practically by setting the value of 0.5 mm or less. Also,
It was also found that if it exceeds 0.5 mm, the solidification rate of paraffin becomes so slow as to be a practical problem. Therefore, the bottom wall 1
The wall thickness t11 of 1 was set to 0.5 mm or less. In this way, by reducing the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11, the molten paraffin poured into the cavity 10 is prevented from flowing into the bottom wall 11
It is possible to obtain a high-quality paraffin block by solidifying with directionality upward from the portion in contact with.

On the other hand, the wall thickness of the other part of the embedding dish 1 is relatively large in the range of 0.6 to 1.0 mm. The reason is as follows.

First, the reason why the side wall 12 is not thinned is as follows.
If the side wall 12 is made too thin, the side wall 12 will remain stuck to the paraffin even if the embedding dish 1 is bent when the mold is removed (because air does not enter between the paraffin and the side wall 12). This is because the removal becomes extremely difficult.

The reason why the mounting wall 2 is not thinned is as follows.
This is because a relatively large heat capacity is applied to the mounting wall 2 to quickly solidify the molten paraffin that enters between the bottom wall of the cassette and the mounting wall 2 during casting. If the mounting wall 2 is made thin to reduce the heat capacity, the molten paraffin that enters between the bottom wall of the cassette and the mounting wall 2 during casting enters even up to the edge wall 3 and unnecessary paraffin thereafter. A large number of man-hours are required to remove P2 (see FIG. 1).

As described above, the wall thickness of the bottom wall 11 is made thin, and the wall thicknesses of the other portions (the side wall 12, the mounting wall 2) are made relatively thick, whereby a well-balanced solidification during casting is achieved. In addition, it is possible to realize ease of demolding and reduction of man-hours in the shaping / removing process, particularly in the removing process.

The bottom wall 11, the side wall 12 and the mounting wall 2
The relationship between the wall thicknesses of the bottom wall 11 and the side wall 12 shown in FIG.
And not only the mounting wall 2, but all bottom walls 11 and side walls 1
2 and the mounting wall 2.

If the embedding dish is made of resin, the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 can be calculated by considering only the solidification characteristics during casting.
It has been found that the thinner the thickness is, the more preferable it is within the experimental range. However, if the thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 is extremely reduced, the bottom wall 11 may be deformed when molten paraffin is poured and the temperature rises.
Also, the manufacturing yield of is reduced. Therefore, the thickness t of the bottom wall 11
11 is preferably 0.2 mm or more. That is, the thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 is preferably set to 0.2 to 0.5 mm, more preferably 0.3 to 0.4 mm.

In integrally molding the embedding dish 1 having the illustrated shape by a resin injection molding method, in order to make the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 within the range of 0.2 to 0.5 mm as described above, flow is required. It is necessary to use a resin material with good properties. Further, the embedding dish 1 is also required to have chemical resistance and impact resistance. Furthermore, the embedding dish 1 is preferably transparent so that it can be easily determined from the outside whether paraffin is cast well and whether coagulation is completed. In order to satisfy the above conditions, the embedding dish 1 is preferably made of microcrystalline polyimide. When the embedding dish 1 was manufactured by using a normal resin injection molding method using microcrystalline polyimide, the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 could be reduced to about 0.4 mm.

By improving the injection molding die,
It is also possible to reduce the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11. For example, as schematically shown in FIG. 7, one mold 31 of the mold pair 30 for the embedding dish 1 is provided with a slidable portion 31.
a is provided. Then, the molten resin is injected between the molds 31 and 32, the cavity 33 between the molds 31 and 32 is filled with the resin, and then the portion 31a is moved before the molten resin is solidified,
A portion 33a of the cavity 33 corresponding to the bottom wall 11 of the embedding dish 1 is narrowed. By manufacturing in this way, the wall thickness t11 of the bottom wall 11 can be made smaller than the limit wall thickness that can be manufactured by a normal injection molding method. In this case, it is possible to use a material other than the above-mentioned microcrystalline polyimide as the material of the embedding dish 1, but it is preferable to use microcrystalline polyimide.

Although the above description has been made on the premise that the embedding dish 1 is integrally molded by the resin injection molding method, the present invention is not limited to this. The first characteristic portion of the above-described embodiment in which the upper portion and the lower portion of the cavity 10 have different shapes can be applied even when the embedding dish 1 is manufactured from a metal material such as stainless steel. It can also be applied to the case of vacuum forming using a resin film such as vinyl chloride as a raw material. Furthermore, regardless of the material of the embedding dish 1, the first characteristic portion of the above-described embodiment may be realized by an additional process after the molding of the embedding dish 1. Further, the second feature of the present embodiment in which the wall thickness of the embedding dish 1 is changed depending on the site may be realized by an additional process after molding the embedding dish 1 regardless of the material. However, in order to realize the first and second features at the lowest cost, it is preferable to integrally mold the embedding dish 1 by a resin injection molding method.

It should be noted that the embedding dish 1 shown in FIGS.
1 is the same as that described in the section of the related art with reference to FIG. 1 except that the shaping / removing step shown in FIG. 1C is eliminated or greatly reduced.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to reduce the work man-hours and work time of the embedding process.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating each step of embedding processing.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an embedding dish according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 1, showing only a main part appearing in a cross section.

FIG. 4 is a view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. 1, showing only a main part appearing in the cross section.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the embedding dish shown in FIG. 1 seen from above.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the embedding dish shown in FIG. 1 seen from below.

7 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a mold for molding the embedding dish shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 embedding dish 2 Mounting wall 10 cavities 11 bottom wall 12 Side wall 13 Lower side wall 14 Upper part of side wall 31a Sliding part of mold S sample P, P1 Casting material (paraffin) h Height of bottom of cavity t11 bottom wall thickness

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An embedding dish for performing an embedding process in which a specimen is cast with a casting material such as paraffin, the cavity having a cavity into which the casting material is injected, wherein the cavity includes a bottom wall and a bottom wall. The cavity is divided by a plurality of sidewalls provided upright on the periphery, and the cavity has a cavity lower portion on the bottom wall side and a cavity upper portion located above the cavity lower portion. The angle α formed by the inner surface of the lower side wall surrounding the lower part and the inner surface of the bottom wall is
An embedding dish, characterized in that it is smaller than an angle β formed by an inner surface of an upper part of the side wall surrounding the upper part of the cavity among the side walls and an inner surface of the bottom wall. 2. The embedding dish according to claim 1, wherein the lower portion of the cavity has a substantially prismatic shape. 3. The embedding dish according to claim 1, wherein the angle α is 90 to 96 degrees. 4. The embedding dish according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the height of the lower portion of the cavity is 1 to 3 mm. 5. An embedding dish for carrying out an embedding process in which a specimen is cast with a casting material such as paraffin, wherein the casting material is set upright on the bottom wall and on the periphery of the bottom wall. A plurality of side walls that define the cavity to be injected, and are provided so as to surround the opening of the cavity,
A mounting wall for mounting a base material such as a cassette, wherein the thickness of the bottom wall is smaller than the thicknesses of the side wall and the mounting wall. 6. The embedding dish according to claim 5, wherein the bottom wall has a thickness of 0.2 to 0.5 mm. 7. A method of integrally molding the embedding dish according to claim 5 or 6 by using a resin material by an injection molding method, wherein at least a portion forming the bottom wall of the mold is slidable. A method for manufacturing an embedding dish, comprising filling a molten resin in a cavity of a mold and then sliding the slidable portion.