JP2008215983A - Specimen sampling instrument - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a specimen sampling instrument for sampling a specimen from a surface of every kind and rapidly and simply preparing a liquid specimen from which a detection inhibitor contained in the sampled specimen is removed in a very small amount by solving the problem that a pretreatment means for removing the detection inhibitor is required after the sampled specimen is suspended and procedure is complicated or a treatment time becomes long. <P>SOLUTION: The specimen sampling instrument for sampling the specimen containing a detection target substance has the sampling part connected to a support and the sampling part contains an adsorbent for adsorbing a substance for inhibiting the detection of the detection target substance contained in the specimen. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a sample collection tool for collecting a detection target substance existing mainly on various surfaces such as a human epidermis or in a liquid and preparing a sample necessary for detecting the detection target substance. is there.

  For example, there is a great need for quantitative detection of biochemical substances that may cause some harm to the human body, such as microorganisms and certain proteins that cause food poisoning and infectious diseases. In order to detect such a substance, it is first necessary to collect a substance to be detected (hereinafter referred to as a detection target substance). Locations for collection include living tissue surfaces such as skin and mucous membranes, surfaces such as kitchens, baths, floors and walls (collectively these surfaces are hereinafter referred to as collection surfaces), drinking water and body fluids, etc. May be liquid. The substance to be detected is generally collected from the above place by some means and then subjected to pretreatment for adapting to the detection means. The collected specimen is suspended or dissolved in a necessary buffer solution. Many methods for making liquid specimens are used. At this time, it is required that the procedure from collecting the sample to making it a liquid sample that can be measured by the detection means can be performed simply and quickly. Furthermore, if the specimen dilution ratio is increased, the specimen concentration contained in the liquid specimen will exceed the measurement limit of the detection means. Therefore, the final specimen volume, ie, the solvent for suspension / dissolution (hereinafter referred to as the suspension) ) Is also required to be kept to a very small amount.

As a technique for collecting such a detection target substance, the detection target substance is collected by causing a quantitative movement on the collection surface (Patent Document 1), or a collection tool and a suspension are integrated to make a liquid specimen easy. (Patent Document 2) and, as means for excluding detection inhibitors, for example, an ion exchange column is known as a prior art (Patent Document 3).
JP 2003-334059 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-229871 JP-A-11-226431

  However, according to these techniques, when the collected specimen contains a substance that inhibits the detection of the detection target substance (hereinafter referred to as a detection inhibitor), the collected specimen is suspended. Thereafter, pretreatment means for excluding detection-inhibiting substances is required, and there are problems that the procedure becomes complicated and the processing time becomes long.

  In addition, if an ion exchange column is used to remove the detection inhibitor, a column is required separately from the collection tool, and the procedure is complicated. In addition, in order for the necessary and sufficient ion adsorption required by the detection means, it is necessary to perform a sufficient amount of time or increase the amount of the ion exchanger to increase the contact efficiency between the specimen and the ion exchanger, This was a problem for rapid processing and miniaturization of specimens.

  The present invention provides a sample collection tool for collecting a sample from various surfaces, liquids, etc., and preparing a liquid sample from which a detection inhibitor contained in the collected sample is removed quickly, simply, and in a small amount. With the goal.

  The sample collection tool of the present invention is a tool for collecting a sample containing a detection target substance, and has a collection unit connected to a support, and the collection unit detects a detection target substance contained in the sample. It includes an adsorbent that adsorbs a substance to be inhibited.

  According to the above configuration, the detection inhibitor can be adsorbed by the adsorbent carried on the collection unit at the same time as the collection. Therefore, collection and reduction of the detection inhibitor can be performed in one step, and a sample can be quickly and easily prepared. .

  In the sample collecting tool of the present invention, the adsorbent is an ion exchanger.

  According to the above configuration, when a charged substance or a specific ion in the sample inhibits detection of the detection target substance, collection and reduction of the detection inhibitory substance can be performed in one step, and sample preparation can be performed quickly and easily. Is possible. Furthermore, since the specimen itself can be brought into contact with the ion exchanger, a very small amount of suspension can be created, and a specimen having a higher concentration of the detection target substance can be created compared to the column treatment.

  Moreover, the specimen collection tool of the present invention is characterized in that the adsorbent is a cation exchanger, an anion exchanger or a mixture thereof.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to quickly and easily create a liquid sample from which the detection inhibitory substance has been removed in accordance with any combination of the charge amount and quantity ratio of the detection inhibitory substance contained in the sample.

  In addition, the sample collection tool of the present invention is characterized in that the cation exchanger is H-type and the anion exchanger is OH-type.

  According to the above configuration, since equal amounts of H + and OH − ions are released from the amphoteric ion exchanger and H 2 O (water) is generated, when the bipolar ion in the sample inhibits detection of the detection target substance, Collection and reduction of detection-inhibiting substances can be performed in one step, enabling rapid and easy specimen preparation.

  Moreover, the sample collection tool of the present invention is characterized in that the exchange capacities of the cation exchanger and the anion exchanger are equal.

  According to the above configuration, if the equivalent amount of the bipolar ions is contained in the specimen and the exchange capacity of the bipolar ion exchanger is sufficient, all the bipolar ions in the specimen are replaced with H2O. Therefore, if all ions are brought into contact with the absorber, the ion concentration in the specimen can be made zero.

  The specimen collection tool of the present invention is characterized in that the adsorbent itself or the second support including the adsorbent has at least one plane.

  According to the above configuration, since the amount of sample to be collected is defined by the area of the sheet, it is possible to ensure quantitativeness of sample collection.

  Samples were collected from the sampling surface or liquid, and when preparing a liquid sample for detection, the detection inhibitor was quickly adsorbed to the adsorbent at the same time as the collection, and the detection inhibitor could be reduced at the same time. A liquid sample from which the detection inhibitor contained in the sample is removed can be quickly and easily prepared. Furthermore, since the specimen itself can be brought into contact with the adsorbent, a very small amount of suspension can be created, and a specimen having a higher concentration of the detection target substance can be created compared to the column processing.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 shows an example constituting the sample collection tool of the present invention. A collecting part 1 for collecting a sample by bringing it into contact with a collecting surface or a liquid is connected to one end of a support 2 that is held by a person who collects the sample by hand.

  Any material can be used for the support 2 as long as the support 2 can maintain sufficient strength when the sampling part 1 is brought into contact with the sampling surface or the liquid. For example, a paper shaft, stainless steel, various plastic materials, and the like can be used. In this embodiment, a polypropylene shaft having a diameter of 1.5 mm and a length of 75 mm is used. As long as the dimensions are easy to hold in the hand, the length can reach the sampling surface. Further, the shape does not need to be linear, and when the sampling surface is in a spatially intricate position, it can be formed into an appropriate shape such as bending or twisting accordingly. Alternatively, the handle portion 3 can be provided at the end opposite to the collection portion 1 for easy holding. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the handle portion 3 may also serve as a lid of the suspension container 4 for suspending the collected specimen in the suspension 5. In this embodiment, since the suspension container 4 holds the suspension 5, the suspension container 4 is a cylindrical container having an opening at one end, the opening is in close contact with the handle portion 3, and the suspension 5 is outside the suspension container 4. To prevent leakage.

  A schematic cross-sectional view of the sampling part 1 is shown in FIG. The collection unit 1 is in contact with the collection surface at the time of collection, holds the detection target substance existing on the collection surface, and needs to adsorb the detection inhibitory substance present on the collection surface. The collection unit 1 is formed of a mixture of a base body 6 for holding a detection target substance and an adsorbent 7 that adsorbs a detection inhibitory substance. The substrate 6 is suitably made of foam such as fiber such as cotton or polyester, polyurethane, etc., and by making the collection part 1 substantially porous, the detection target substance can be reliably collected from the collection surface and is wet. There is an effect that a sufficient amount of sample can be held in the collection unit 1 when collecting from the collection surface or liquid. Further, when the adsorbent 7 alone is insufficient in strength, it may act as a reinforcing body. In this embodiment, polyester fiber is used.

  An adsorbent 7 that adsorbs a detection inhibitor is mixed with the substrate 6. In the present embodiment, a substance having a charge is assumed as the detection inhibitor, and an ion exchanger is used as the adsorbent 7.

  In general, an ion exchanger has a structure in which a functional group is bonded to a base material such as styrene / divinylbenzene or polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and the shape is separated by ions bonded to the terminal of the functional group. Among cation exchangers, there are typically those in which Na and H are bonded, and they are called Na form and H form, respectively. Anion exchangers typically include those in which Cl and OH are bonded, and are called Cl form and OH form, respectively. When ions in the liquid are adsorbed, equal amounts of ions are released from the ion exchanger. H + is released in the H form, and OH− is released in the OH form. For this reason, it is necessary to select an ion exchanger in which released ions do not become a measurement inhibitor.

  As the ion exchanger, a particulate resin or a fibrous one has been commercialized, and these commercially available materials can be applied. In the present embodiment, fibrous ion exchange fibers are used to facilitate mixing with the substrate 6.

  The sampling part 1 is configured by weaving polyester fibers and ion exchange fibers in an appropriate ratio and winding them around one end of the support 2. For fixing to the support 2, a general adhesive or the like can be used. Further, when these fibers are subjected to a hydrophilic treatment with a surfactant or the like, or a hydrophilic material such as PVA is used, quick and reliable collection can be performed when collecting a liquid specimen.

  As another method, the adsorbent 7 itself can be used as the collection unit 1. In this case, the strength of the absorber is required to be sufficient to withstand collection. The ion exchange fiber has a relatively high strength, and has a sufficient strength to constitute the collection unit 1. In the present embodiment, an ion exchange fiber IEF-SC (cation exchanger) or IEF-SA (anion exchanger) manufactured by Nichibi Co., Ltd. is used, and the ion exchange fiber is wound around the support 2 as the sampling part 1. And fix it.

  Hereinafter, examples of the sample collection tool in the present embodiment will be described. The sample collector holds the handle portion 3 in his hand and presses the collection portion 1 against the collection surface. Preferably, the handle portion 3 is rotated to capture the detection target substance around the entire collection portion 1. At this time, when the collection surface is dry, it is preferable to wet the collection unit 1 in advance with a buffer or the like, and the detection target substance can be reliably collected from the dried collection surface. Alternatively, the collection unit 1 is immersed in a liquid to be collected, and the detection target substance is collected. Simultaneously with the collection, the detection inhibiting substance present on the collection surface and captured by the collection unit 1 together with the detection target substance is adsorbed by the adsorbent 7. Since the adsorbent 7 and the detection inhibitor are very close to each other, the detection inhibitor is quickly adsorbed.

  Thereafter, in order to bring the specimen into a solution state, the collection unit 1 is immersed in a buffer necessary for measurement, and the detection target substance is dissolved or suspended in the buffer. At this time, a dedicated suspension container 3 as shown in FIG. 3 can also be used.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the detection inhibitor is quickly adsorbed to the adsorbent 7 simultaneously with collection, and the detection inhibitor can be reduced simultaneously. Therefore, the detection inhibitor contained in the collected specimen It is possible to quickly and easily create a liquid specimen from which the water is removed. Furthermore, since the specimen itself can be brought into contact with the ion exchanger, a very small amount of suspension can be created, and a specimen having a higher concentration of the detection target substance can be created compared to the column treatment.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the sampling part 1 showing this embodiment. The composition ratio of the cation exchanger 8 and the anion exchanger 9 as the adsorbent 7 can be changed depending on the ratio of the detection inhibitor to be adsorbed contained in the specimen. Simply, if the detection inhibiting substance is only a substance having a positive charge, all may be the cation exchanger 8, and if only the substance having a negative charge is the anion exchanger 9. When there are approximately equal amounts of positive and negative charges, the mixing ratio may be 1: 1. At this time, it is necessary to adjust the mixing ratio of the on-exchanger so that the ion exchange capacity ratio becomes equal. In the case of IEF-SC and IEF-SA, the exchange capacity is 2.0 meq / g, so the weight ratio and the exchange capacity ratio are equal.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, a liquid sample from which a detection inhibitor is removed is quickly and easily created according to any combination of the charge amount and the quantity ratio of the detection inhibitor contained in the sample. be able to.

(Embodiment 3)
When detecting biochemical substances, bipolar ions in general may behave as detection inhibitors. For example, a method of trapping a detection target substance on an electrode using a dielectrophoretic phenomenon and measuring the detection target substance by impedance measurement (for details, see J. Phys D. Appl. Phys. 32 (1999) 2814-2820) There is. The dielectrophoresis phenomenon is affected by the electrical conductivity of the solution. When ions are present in the solution and the electrical conductivity is high, it is difficult to attract the detection target substance toward the electrode (positive dielectrophoresis) and trap it. Therefore, in the above detection method, bipolar ions in the sample become detection inhibitors, so the bipolar ions in the sample are reduced before the sample is collected and detected, and as a result, the conductivity of the solution is reduced. There is a need.

  In the present embodiment, if adsorption is performed only with the cation exchanger 8 or the anion exchanger 9, an equal amount of ions is released, so that the ion concentration in the solution does not change and the conductivity can be reduced. Can not. Further, when the Na form is used as the cation exchanger 8 and the Cl form is used as the anion exchanger 9, Na + and Cl- are released and exist as ions in the solution, respectively, so that the ion concentration does not change, and the conductivity. Can not be reduced. Therefore, by using the H form as the cation exchanger 8 and the OH form as the anion exchanger 9, H + and OH- are released, resulting in the formation of H2O, the ion concentration in the solution being reduced, and the conductivity. Also decreases. At this time, since it is necessary to release H + and OH− in equal amounts, the ratio of the ion exchanger used as the adsorbent 7 in the present embodiment is such that the ion exchange capacity becomes equal. And OH type ion exchanger need to be mixed.

  Hereinafter, examples of the sample collection tool in the present embodiment will be described. Since the sample collection method is the same as that of the first embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

  The collection surface was collected as a palm of a person, and a liquid sample was prepared. As a comparison, the palm of the hand was scraped using a sampling tool provided with a sampling part 1 that did not contain an ion exchanger, and the sampling part 1 was immersed in 5 ml of pure water for suspension. At this time, the conductivity of the suspension was 93 μS / cm. It is thought that the conductivity increased due to the salt contained in the sweat. In order to make positive dielectrophoresis work effectively, it is necessary to reduce the conductivity of the suspension to about 10 μS / cm or less, so it is necessary to reduce the ions contained in the specimen. When this specimen was subjected to ion adsorption treatment with a column containing 2.0 g of a mixture of cation exchange resin and anion exchange resin (Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Diaion SK1BH, SA10AOH), 18 μS was obtained with a treatment time of 112 seconds. A decrease in conductivity up to / cm was confirmed. In addition, since there is a sample remaining in the column after the treatment, the input amount to the column is 5 ml with respect to the required sample amount of 1 ml.

  On the other hand, when the sampling part 1 was sampled and suspended in the same manner using a sample collection tool formed of a mixture of cation and anion exchange fibers, the conductivity of the suspension was about 10 μS / cm, and the sample collection and suspension were suspended. It has been confirmed that the conductivity can be sufficiently reduced for detection by dielectrophoresis only by the turbidity operation. Further, the amount of the suspension was 1.5 ml with respect to 1 ml of the necessary specimen amount. From this, the concentration of the detection target substance contained in the sample after the treatment was about 5 times that of the column treatment, confirming the production of a trace amount (high concentration) of the sample.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to quickly and easily create a liquid sample used for detection means in which the presence of bipolar ions in the sample is a problem.

(Embodiment 4)
When detecting the detection target substance, naturally, quantitativeness is required. In order to ensure quantitativeness, it is necessary to collect samples in a quantitative manner as well as ensuring sufficient detection accuracy. FIG. 5 shows a diagram of the specimen collection tool in the present embodiment. A description of the same points as in the other embodiments will be omitted. The collection unit 1 of the present embodiment has a sheet-like substantially flat surface. The sheet shape can be appropriately changed according to the sampling surface, but in the present embodiment, it is a 1 × 2 cm rectangle. It is relatively easy to make the ion exchanger into a sheet form, and a typical production method is to form a sheet form by mixing ion exchange fibers with a paper raw material such as pulp as a support.

  In the sample collection in the present embodiment, the sample is collected by pressing the flat surface, upper surface, or lower surface of the collection unit 1 against the collection surface. Preferably, the pressing time is defined to be constant. At this time, since the detection target substance adhering to the collection unit 1 is defined by the area of the collection surface, it is possible to ensure the quantitativeness of the collection and simultaneously reduce the detection inhibitory substance by the absorber. Can be collected.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to simultaneously realize rapid and simple sample collection and reduction of detection inhibitory substances and quantitativeness of sample collection.

  It is possible to provide a sample collection tool for collecting a sample from various surfaces and preparing a liquid sample from which a detection inhibitor contained in the collected sample is removed quickly, simply, and in a small amount.

The figure of the sample collection tool showing Embodiment 1-3 Illustration of specimen collection tool with dedicated suspension container The figure of the sample collection tool showing Embodiment 1 The figure of the sample collection tool provided with the suspension container for exclusive use in Embodiment 2 The figure of the sample collection tool showing Embodiment 4

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sampling part 2 Support body 3 Handle part 4 Suspension solution 5 Suspension

Claims (6)

A tool for collecting a specimen containing a detection target substance, having a collection section connected to a support, wherein the collection section adsorbs a substance that inhibits detection of the detection target substance contained in the specimen A specimen collecting tool comprising: The specimen collection tool according to claim 1, wherein the adsorbent is an ion exchanger. The specimen collection tool according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the adsorbent is a cation exchanger, an anion exchanger, or a mixture thereof. The specimen collection tool according to claim 3, wherein the cation exchanger is H-type and the anion exchanger is OH-type. The specimen collection tool according to claim 4, wherein the exchange capacities of the cation exchanger and the anion exchanger are equal. The specimen collection tool according to claim 1, wherein the adsorbent itself or the second support including the adsorbent has at least one flat surface.

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