JP2003270152A - Sample emission measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately detect existence or nonexistence of a sample container in a measuring chamber by a simple composition in a sample emission measuring device. <P>SOLUTION: A photomultiplier 60 is arranged facing a bottom face of the sample container 52 housed in the measuring chamber 54, and an LED 58 is arranged facing a top face. When it is detected that a door 56 is closed, a control part 66 lights the LED 58 and a quantity of light entering the photomultiplier 60 is measured. The measured value is compared with a reference value of a quantity of light corresponding to a state without the sample container 52, and when a difference exceeds a predetermined threshold, it is determined that the sample container 52 is set. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sample luminescence measuring device for measuring luminescence such as bioluminescence and chemiluminescence from a sample contained in a light transmissive sample container.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is possible to quantify a trace amount of a substance in a sample by utilizing a bioluminescence phenomenon or a chemiluminescence phenomenon. This quantification is performed by measuring weak bioluminescence / chemiluminescence with high accuracy. This quantification technique includes, for example, microquantification of ATP, measurement of H ₂ O ₂ , active oxygen and lipid peroxide, measurement of luminescence pattern during leukocyte phagocytosis, luminescence immunoassay, etc. Medicine, biochemistry, clinical examination, agriculture ,
It is useful in various fields such as food products.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a conventional sample luminescence measuring device. A light-transmissive sample container 6 containing the sample 4 is set at a predetermined position in the measurement chamber 2 that shields external light. The door 3 of the measurement chamber 2 is provided above the measurement chamber 2 to facilitate the work of storing the sample container 6 in the measurement chamber 2. When the luminescence of the sample 4 is caused by the reaction with the luminescent reagent, the luminescent reagent is injected into the sample container 6 using the reagent pump 8. The reagent pump 8 sucks the luminescent reagent from the reagent container 10 and discharges the sucked luminescent reagent to the set position of the sample container 6 through the pipe 12 extending to the set position of the sample container 6.

The light emitted from the sample 4 is detected by the photomultiplier tube 14 arranged facing the bottom surface of the sample container 6. The electric pulse output from the photomultiplier tube 14 is amplified by the amplification unit 16 and then counted by the measurement unit 18.

A sample container sensor 22 for detecting whether or not the sample container 6 is set at a predetermined position is provided on the side surface inside the measuring chamber 2. As the sample container sensor 22, for example, an optical type sensor that detects a change in brightness or an optical image depending on the presence or absence of the sample container 6 can be used. Control unit 2
0 monitors the output of the sample container sensor 22 and can, for example, warn the user when instructed to start the luminescence measurement when the sample container 6 is not set.
On the other hand, the control unit 20 operates the reagent pump 8 to inject the luminescent reagent into the sample container 6 when the start of the luminescence measurement is instructed with the sample container 6 set, and the sample after the reagent reaction is performed. Controls a series of processes for measuring light emission from.

[0006]

In order to measure the luminescence of the sample from the outside, the sample container 6 must be light transmissive. Therefore, changes in brightness and optical image due to the presence or absence of the sample container 6 are relatively small, and the optical sample container sensor 2
False detection is likely to occur unless a highly accurate one is used as 2. On the other hand, the high-precision optical sensor is expensive, and there is a problem that the cost of the device increases.

Further, it is desirable that the sample container sensor 22 should not be placed very close to the photomultiplier tube 14 in order to avoid adverse effects on the photomultiplier tube 14 which is a highly sensitive photodetector. On the other hand, since the photomultiplier tube 14 is arranged so as to face the bottom surface of the sample container 6, the sample container sensor 22 is provided at a position separated upward from the lower end of the sample container 6. Therefore, the sample container 6 having a height lower than the position of the sample container sensor 22 cannot be detected by the sample container sensor 22, and the usable sample container 6 is unnecessarily limited.

Further, the sample container sensor 22 is attached to the sample container 6
If it is arranged laterally, the output changes depending on the diameter of the sample container 6, and erroneous detection may occur.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is possible to determine the presence or absence of a sample container with a simple structure with high accuracy, and there are few restrictions on the usable sample container. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0010]

A sample luminescence measuring device according to the present invention stores a light-transmissive sample container containing a sample in a measurement chamber that is shielded from external light, and detects the luminescence of the sample. A device for measuring light emission using a measuring instrument, comprising: a light irradiation means for irradiating light toward the storage position of the sample container; a lighting means for lighting the light irradiation means when the light emission is not measured; And a determination unit that determines the presence or absence of the sample container at the storage position based on the output of the photodetector when the light irradiation unit is turned on.

According to the present invention, since the presence of the sample container at the storage position is detected by using the photodetector for measuring the light emission of the sample, it is not necessary to separately provide a sample container sensor. In the detection operation of the sample container, the light irradiation means is turned on, and the presence or absence of the sample container is determined based on the difference between the reflected light and the transmitted light depending on the presence or absence of the sample container. Since the photodetector is highly sensitive so that it can measure the weak light emission of the sample, it is possible to detect the difference between the reflected light and the transmitted light with or without the light transmissive sample container with high accuracy. it can.

Another sample luminescence measuring device according to the present invention further comprises reagent injection means for injecting a luminescent reagent which reacts with a sample to cause the luminescence, and injection control means for controlling the operation of the reagent injection means. Then, the determination means determines the presence or absence of the sample container prior to the injection of the luminescent reagent,
The injection control means does not perform the injection operation of the luminescent reagent when it is determined that the sample container is not placed in the measurement chamber.

It may be necessary to inject a luminescent reagent to cause the sample to luminesce. According to the present invention, the luminescent reagent is automatically injected by the reagent injection means and the injection control means. At this time, the presence / absence of the sample container is determined prior to the injection operation of the luminescent reagent, and when it is determined that the sample container is not placed in the predetermined storage position in the measurement chamber, the injection operation of the luminescent reagent is performed. Controlled not to.
This prevents the luminescent reagent from being unnecessarily discharged and consumed into the measurement chamber.

In another sample luminescence measuring apparatus according to the present invention, the judging means further detects a failure of the photodetector based on the output of the photodetector when the light irradiating means is turned on.

According to the present invention, the light irradiation means emits light when determining the presence or absence of the sample container, and this light is detected by the photodetector. At this time, for example, if the output of the photodetector is outside the range expected from the intensity of the light emitted by the light irradiation means, it is highly possible that the photodetector has failed,
Judge as a failure.

In a sample luminescence measuring apparatus according to still another aspect of the present invention, the light irradiating means and the photodetector are arranged to face each other above and below the sample container.

According to the present invention, the presence or absence of sample containers of different heights and diameters can be stably and highly accurately determined without being affected by the height and diameter of the sample containers.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the lighting means is
It is a sample luminescence measuring device that interlocks with the opening / closing operation of the measurement chamber and turns on the light irradiation means when the measurement chamber is closed.

In this embodiment, the light irradiation means is automatically turned on by using the fact that the measurement chamber is opened and closed when the sample container is stored in the measurement chamber, and the presence / absence of the sample container is determined. .

[0020]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sample luminescence measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This apparatus stores a sample container 52 containing a sample 50 to be measured at a predetermined position and shields external light from a measurement chamber 54, and an LED (light irradiation means) attached to a door 56 above the measurement chamber 54. Ligh
t Emission Diode) 58, an opening / closing sensor (not shown) that detects opening / closing of the door 56, a photomultiplier tube 60 that is a high-sensitivity photodetector and is arranged facing the bottom surface of the sample container 52, and an amplifying unit 62. , A measurement unit 64, and a control unit 66.
Further, the present apparatus serves as a reagent injection means for injecting a luminescent reagent into the sample 50, a reagent pump 72 that sucks the luminescent reagent from the reagent container 70 and discharges it toward the sample container 52, a reagent pump 72.
The luminescent reagent discharged from the sample container 52 in the measurement chamber 54
Is provided with a pipe 74 that leads to the storage position.

Next, the structure and function of each part of the present apparatus will be described.

First, the sample container 52 is light transmissive so that the light emission of the sample 50 held by the sample container 52 can be measured through the container. Thereby, the light generated by the sample 50 held in the sample container 52 enters the photomultiplier tube 60 via the bottom surface of the sample container 52.

In the photomultiplier tube 60, the incident light is converted into photoelectrons by photoelectric conversion, and the photoelectrons are multiplied by secondary electron emission. The photomultiplier tube 60 can convert weak light into a relatively large electric signal by this multiplication effect. The amplifying unit 62 amplifies the electric signal pulse output from the photomultiplier tube 60 to a wave height that facilitates signal processing in the subsequent stage. The measuring unit 64 is set with a threshold value for removing noise included in the output of the amplifying unit 62, and counts pulses exceeding the threshold value. The measuring unit 64 outputs the count value to the control unit 66.

The LED 58 is attached to the door 56 as described above, and is arranged so that light is emitted from the upper surface of the sample container 52. If the photomultiplier tube 60 is arranged so as to face the LED 58 with the sample container 52 interposed therebetween,
The light emitted from 58 passes through the storage position of the sample container 52 and reaches the photomultiplier tube 60. The open / close sensor outputs an output corresponding to opening / closing of the door 56 to the control unit 66. Control unit 66
Controls the blinking of the LED 58 in conjunction with the opening and closing of the door 56. The control unit 66 also measures the amount of light incident on the photomultiplier tube 60 when the LED 58 is lit, and determines whether the sample container 52 is set at the storage position based on the measured value. That is, the LED 58 and the photomultiplier tube 6
When the sample container 52 is set between 0 and 0, there is a difference in the amount of light incident on the photomultiplier tube 60 depending on whether the sample container 52 absorbs or reflects light. Since this occurs, the determination can be made based on the difference. Since the photomultiplier tube 60 can detect light with high sensitivity, even if the sample container 52 is light-transmissive and the amount of light is slightly attenuated, the presence or absence of the attenuation can be determined with high accuracy. It is possible to detect. The determination result of the presence / absence of the sample container 52 can be used, for example, to call the user's attention by an alarm or the like when an attempt is made to perform measurement in the absence of a luminescence measurement target. Can be used to control.

The operation of the reagent pump 72 is controlled by the controller 66. In the control unit 66, the sample container 52 is the measurement chamber 54.
If it is determined that the reagent pump 72 is set to
Drive the pipette to supply a preset amount of luminescence reagent.
4, but when it is determined that the sample container 52 is not set, the luminescence reagent is not discharged. Note that the control unit 66 can be set to a reagent injection stop mode in which the operation control of the reagent pump 72 is not performed, and when the luminescence phenomenon occurs in the sample 50 without using the luminescence reagent, the user needs to control the control unit 66. To the reagent injection stop mode.

Next, the measurement operation of the sample light emission by this apparatus will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. When the device is started up, unless it is instructed to stop its operation (S1
00), the following processing is continued.

The control unit 66 monitors the opening and closing of the door 56 based on the output of the open / close sensor (S105), and determines whether or not the start of the luminescence measurement of the sample is instructed by operating the operation panel or button of the apparatus. Monitor (S11
0).

When the door 56 which has been closed until then is opened and closed in step S105, the sample container 52 may be set in the measurement chamber 54. So the door 56
When it is detected that the sample container 52 has changed from the open state to the closed state, the control unit 66 operates the photomultiplier tube 60 to determine whether or not the sample container 52 in the measurement chamber 54 exists.
Turn on 58. The measuring unit 64 measures the amount of light that has entered the photomultiplier tube 60 from the LED 58 (S115).

Before determining the presence or absence of the sample container 52, the control unit 66 determines whether or not the light amount measured in step S115 is within a predetermined normal range (S120). For example, when the photomultiplier tube 60 is out of order, the photomultiplier tube 60 outputs only a noise level signal even though there is incident light, and the measured light amount becomes almost zero. Even if light does not enter, discharge may occur and the measured light amount may have an abnormally large value. Further, when the light incident surface of the photomultiplier tube 60 is shielded by dirt or foreign matter, or when the sample container 52 is erroneously not light transmissive, or the LED is used.
If 58 fails, the light quantity measurement value may be almost zero. Therefore, when the light amount measurement value is not included between the preset lower limit value and the upper limit value, there is a possibility that the above-described abnormality has occurred, and the control unit 66 judges this and the lamp 66 , Alarm, and display means such as character display on the display panel are used to notify the user (S
125), and returns to step S100.

On the other hand, if the measured light amount is within the normal range, it is determined whether the light-transmissive sample container 52 is set in the measurement chamber 54. The control unit 66 stores in advance a measured value of the light amount of the LED 58 that enters the photomultiplier tube 60 when the sample container 52 is not set as a reference value. The control unit 66 compares the reference value with the light amount measurement value obtained in step S115, and when the difference exceeds a predetermined threshold value, determines that the sample container 52 is set, If not, it is determined that the sample container 52 is not set (S130).
The control unit 66 holds the determination result until a new determination is made.

In addition to the sample emission measurement operation shown in FIG. 2, a reference value acquisition operation for acquiring a reference value can be performed, and the reference value can be updated at any time.
For example, the reference value acquisition operation can be started by the user confirming that the sample container 52 is not set in the measurement chamber 54 and then instructing the control unit 66.
Further, the control unit 66 may recommend the user to update the reference value, for example, at the timing when the elapsed time or the number of measurements reaches a predetermined value.

In step S110, when the sample emission measurement start instruction is detected, the control unit 66 first refers to the set determination result of the sample container 52 acquired and retained in step S130. When it is confirmed that the sample container 52 is set (S135), it is determined whether the reagent injection stop mode is set (S140). The reagent injection stop mode is set by a user operation, for example. The user operates the operation panel or the like to select whether or not to cause the device to inject the reagent, depending on whether or not the luminescent reagent is necessary for the light emission of the sample to be measured.
If no reagent injection is selected, the device is set to the reagent injection stop mode.

If the reagent injection stop mode is not set (S1
40), the control unit 66 drives and controls the reagent pump 72,
After injecting the amount of the luminescent reagent designated by the user into the sample container 52 set in the measurement chamber 54 (S145),
The light emission of the sample 50 is measured (S150).

On the other hand, when the reagent injection stop mode is set (S140), the luminescence measurement of the sample 50 is started without performing the luminescence reagent injection operation (S150).

When the emission measurement is completed, step S100
Return to.

When the sample container 52 is not set in step S135, the control unit 66 uses an output means such as a lamp, an alarm, and a character display on the display panel.
This is notified to the user (S155), and the reagent injection operation S
145, without performing sample emission measurement S150, step S
Return to 100. This prevents the luminescence reagent from being discharged into the measurement chamber 54 in a state where the sample container 52 is not set, and prevents the measurement chamber 54 from becoming dirty and the luminescence reagent being wastefully consumed, and the sample container 52 is set. It is possible to prevent erroneous measurement from being forgotten.

[0038]

According to the sample luminescence measuring device of the present invention, a high-sensitivity photodetector provided for measuring the luminescence of the sample is also used for detecting the presence or absence of the sample container, and thus a simple structure is obtained. The presence or absence of the sample container can be determined with high accuracy.
In addition, the presence or absence of sample containers of various heights and diameters can be determined with high accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a sample luminescence measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a sample emission measurement operation of the sample emission measuring apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a conventional sample luminescence measuring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

52 sample container, 54 measuring chamber, 56 door, 58 LE
D, 60 photomultiplier tube, 64 measuring unit, 66 control unit, 72 reagent pump.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshito Aoyagi             6-22-1, Mure, Mitaka City, Tokyo Aloka             Within the corporation F term (reference) 2G054 CE02 EA01 FA06 FA12 FA21                       FA22 FA32

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sample luminescence measuring device in which a light-transmissive sample container containing a sample is stored in a measurement chamber shielded from external light, and the luminescence of the sample is measured by using a photodetector. Based on the light irradiation means for emitting light toward the storage position of the container, the lighting means for lighting the light irradiation means when the light emission is not measured, and the output of the photodetector when the light irradiation means is turned on. And a determination unit that determines the presence or absence of the sample container at the storage position. 2. The sample luminescence measuring device according to claim 1, wherein reagent injection means for injecting a luminescent reagent that reacts with the sample to cause the luminescence, injection control means for controlling the operation of the reagent injection means, And the determination means determines the presence or absence of the sample container prior to the injection of the luminescent reagent, and the injection control means determines that the sample container is not placed in the measurement chamber. The sample luminescence measuring device, wherein the injection operation of the luminescent reagent is not performed. 3. The sample luminescence measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the determination means further determines the photodetector based on the output of the photodetector when the light irradiation means is turned on. A sample luminescence measuring device characterized by detecting a failure. 4. The sample luminescence measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the light irradiation unit and the photodetector are arranged above and below the sample container so as to face each other. A sample luminescence measuring device characterized by: 5. The sample luminescence measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the lighting means is interlocked with an opening / closing operation of the measurement chamber, and when the measurement chamber is closed. A sample luminescence measuring device, characterized in that the light irradiation means is turned on.