JP2012098201A - Reagent stirring mechanism and autoanalyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reagent stirring mechanism capable of avoiding unintended mixing between reagents while retaining a throughput of an autoanalyzer and dispensing with a maintenance of stirrers; and to provide the autoanalyzer including the same.SOLUTION: A reagent stirring mechanism 107 of the autoanalyzer includes: stirrers 200 provided for every reagent container 112; a drive transmission part 150 separately provided from the stirrer 200 and transmitting a driving force; and connecting parts 163 and 203, as attachment/detachment means, for attaching and detaching the stirrer 200 with respect to the drive transmission part. Hence the stirrers are provided for each of the plurality of reagent containers, a possibility of mixing with another reagent and cleaning fluid is completely eliminated so as to improve the throughput and dispense with a use of water- and oil-repellent materials or water- and oil-repellent coating work, for the purpose of suppression of the other reagent and the cleaning fluid.

Description

  The present invention relates to a reagent agitation mechanism of an automatic analyzer, and is a technique that is particularly effective when applied to an automatic analyzer that performs measurement using magnetic particles.

  There is known an automatic analyzer that automatically analyzes a specific component in a specimen such as blood or urine using an immune reaction. In an immunoassay method using this immune reaction, a component to be measured and a labeling substance are bound by an antigen-antibody reaction, and the substance is quantified or qualitated by a signal (emission, light absorption, etc.) obtained from the labeling substance. At this time, in order to remove the excessively added labeling substance, an operation called BF separation for removing the labeling substance not bound to the target substance is performed. In an automatic analyzer, a method using magnetic particles is widely employed in order to automatically perform BF separation. In BF separation using magnetic particles, excess labeling substance is obtained by further binding the magnetic particles to the immune complex in which the substance to be measured and the labeling substance are bound, and replacing the solution with the magnetic particles adsorbed by a magnet. Is removed from the reaction solution. Since this method is suitable for automation, it is widely used in automatic analyzers.

  However, since the specific gravity of the magnetic particles is larger than that of the solution, the particles settle due to gravity, resulting in uneven concentration. The non-uniformity of the magnetic particle concentration causes the analysis result not to be obtained correctly. For this reason, the automatic analyzer has a mechanism for stirring the magnetic particle solution to make the concentration uniform.

  In many cases, magnetic particles are stirred by putting a stirring rod having a paddle-like structure in a reagent solution and rotating the stirring rod. The stirred reagent solution adheres to the paddle and shaft of the stirring rod after stirring the reagent. If another reagent solution is stirred while a certain reagent solution is adhered, mixing between the reagents may occur, and the composition of the reagent may change and analysis may not be performed correctly. Therefore, it is necessary to wash the stirring bar after stirring the reagent. The stirring rod is washed by immersing the stirring rod in a detergent solution or washing water or by spraying it in a shower. Regardless of which cleaning method is employed, the cleaning solution or the cleaning water remains attached to the stirring rod immediately after the cleaning. When the next solution is stirred while the washing solution or washing water is adhered, these solutions are mixed into the reagent solution, causing a change in the composition of the reagent solution, which may affect the analysis result. Therefore, in order to prevent the influence of the mixing of the cleaning solution on the analysis result, a step of removing the cleaning solution after the stirring bar is cleaned is necessary.

  As a method for removing the cleaning solution and the cleaning water, a method in which a stirring rod is rotated in the air and the attached droplets are blown is common (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In addition, in order to suppress the adhesion of the reagent and the cleaning liquid to the stirring bar, it is common to make the material of the stirring bar with a water / oil repellent material (generally fluororesin) or to coat (for example, non-sticking). Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-292398

"Research Comprehensive Equipment 2011 / Sankuast 2011" AS ONE Corporation, 2010, p116

  However, in the conventional stirring mechanism, since the stirring bar stirs a plurality of reagents, it is necessary to sufficiently perform washing and cleaning liquid removal. On the other hand, if washing and washing liquid removal are sufficiently performed, a lot of time is required for each process, and the number of samples that can be processed by the analyzer per unit time, that is, throughput is lowered. Also, coatings that facilitate cleaning and removal of the cleaning solution deteriorate as they are used, so maintenance such as periodic replacement is required.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a reagent stirring mechanism and an automatic analyzer that can avoid unintentional mixing between reagents while maintaining the throughput of the automatic analyzer, and that do not require the maintenance of a stirring bar.

  The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  A reagent agitation mechanism according to a typical embodiment is a reagent agitation mechanism of an automatic analyzer having a plurality of reagent containers, and includes a stirring bar provided in each of the plurality of reagent containers, and a driving force applied to the stirring bar. A drive transmission unit for transmitting; and attachment / detachment means for attaching / detaching the stirring rod and the drive transmission unit.

  An automatic analyzer according to a typical embodiment is an automatic analyzer having the reagent stirring mechanism and does not have a stirring bar cleaning mechanism.

  Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  According to the present invention, since a plurality of reagent containers are provided with stirring bars, the stirring bars are not shared by the plurality of reagent containers, and mixing of other reagents and cleaning liquids can be completely eliminated. Further, it is not necessary to clean the stirring rod, the time required for the cleaning is unnecessary, and the throughput can be improved. Further, it is not necessary to use a water / oil repellent material for the purpose of suppressing other reagents or cleaning liquids, or a water / oil repellent treatment by coating. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a reagent stirring mechanism and an automatic analyzer that can avoid unintentional mixing between reagents while maintaining the throughput of the automatic analyzer, and that do not require maintenance of a stirring bar.

It is the schematic of the automatic analyzer of this invention. It is a figure which shows the reagent stirring mechanism of one embodiment of this invention. (A)-(f) is explanatory drawing of operation | movement of the reagent stirring mechanism of FIG. It is a figure which shows the reagent stirring mechanism of other embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof is omitted as much as possible.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an automatic analyzer according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the automatic analyzer 100 includes a disk-shaped reagent holding unit 101, a sample thermostat 102, a reaction detection unit 103, and a sample rack 104. In addition, as a mechanism for moving or processing a reagent or sample to each location, a reagent dispensing nozzle 105, a reagent dispensing nozzle cleaning device 106, a reagent stirring mechanism 107, a sample dispensing nozzle 108, a reaction solution dispensing nozzle 109, and a sample A rack transport mechanism 110 is provided. In addition, a plurality of reagent containers 112, a reaction container 113, a specimen dispensing tip 114, and a specimen container 115 such as a test tube, which are integrally configured as a reagent cassette 111, are provided as reagent and specimen containers. Further, as a part for holding the container, a reaction container holding part 116, a dispensing tip holding part 117, and a reaction container and a chip transport mechanism 118 installed between them are also provided.

  When the analysis is started, first, the reaction vessel 113 is installed on the specimen thermostat 102 from the reaction vessel holder 116 by the reaction vessel and the chip transfer mechanism (hereinafter also simply referred to as a transfer mechanism) 118.

  Subsequently, a predetermined amount of reagent is aspirated from the reagent container 112 of the reagent cassette 111 installed in the reagent holding unit 101 by the reagent dispensing nozzle 105, and is brought into the reaction container 113 at the reagent dispensing position 119 on the specimen thermostat 102. Discharged. Here, when the reagent requires stirring of the magnetic particle reagent or the like, the reagent is stirred by the reagent stirring mechanism 107. In addition, the sample is placed on the sample rack 104 along the sample rack transport mechanism 110 and is transported to the sample suction location 120. Further, the sample dispensing tip 114 is carried from the dispensing tip holding unit 117 to the tip mounting position 121 by the transport mechanism 118. Here, after the sample dispensing tip 114 is attached to the tip of the sample dispensing nozzle 108, the sample is aspirated by the sample dispensing nozzle 108 attached with this tip, and the constant temperature chamber 102 for the sample is obtained at the sample dispensing position 122. It is discharged into the upper reaction vessel 113. The sample dispensing chip 114 after the sample dispensing is discarded from a chip disposal position 123 to a disposal box (not shown).

  The reagent and the sample dispensed in the reaction vessel 113 are reacted for a predetermined time on the sample thermostat 102, and then the reaction solution is transferred to the reaction detection unit 103 by the reaction solution dispensing nozzle 109 to chemiluminescence. And luminescence detection such as electrochemiluminescence. Further, the reaction solution dispensing nozzle 109 sucks the buffer solution 124 and the flow path cleaning solution 125 in addition to the reaction solution in accordance with a predetermined operation instruction. Note that the reagent dispensing nozzle 105 after the reagent dispensing is washed by the reagent dispensing nozzle washing device 106.

  The reagent stirring mechanism 107 that stirs the magnetic particle reagent and the like includes a drive transmission unit 150 that transmits a driving force to the stirring rod. On the other hand, the stirring rod 200 is provided in each reagent container 112 of the reagent cassette 111. That is, the reagent stirring mechanism 107 is in a separated state when the reagent is not stirred.

  The reagent stirring mechanism 107 will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a reagent stirring mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the stirring rod 200 includes a resin rod body 201, a paddle 202 attached to the tip of the rod body 201, and a stirring rod to the drive transmission unit 150 provided at the upper end of the rod body 201. The connection part 203 is mainly comprised.

  The stirring rod connecting portion 203 is a disk-shaped portion, and a notch 204 is formed at equal intervals from the surface. A predetermined portion of the drive transmission portion 150 is inserted into and connected to the notch 204. It has become. The stirring rod connecting portion 203 is provided at a position sufficiently higher than the liquid level L of the reagent in order to prevent the reagent solution from adhering to the drive transmission portion 150.

  A concave portion 205 is formed by removing a part of the thick portion at the bottom of the reagent container 112. By inserting the lower end 201a of the rod body 201 therein, the lower side of the rod body 201 is held by the reagent container 112. ing. The inner diameter of the recess 205 is formed to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the rod main body 201 so that the rotation of the stirring rod 200 is not hindered. The lower end 201 a of the rod body 201 is formed in a frame shape, and this portion is in the recess 205. Thereby, the stirring bar 200 can rotate without stress even if it is pressed by the drive transmission unit 150 during the rotation operation.

  A holding mechanism 206 is attached to the upper portion of the rod main body 201, and the upper side of the rod main body 201 is held by the reagent container 112 by the holding mechanism 206. The holding mechanism 206 is attached to a position higher than the liquid level L of the reagent but lower than the connecting portion 203 of the stirring rod, and includes an arm portion 206a extending from the inner wall of the reagent container 112 and a ring held by the arm portion 206a. Part 206b. The rod body 201 is held by being inserted through the ring portion 206b.

  In this manner, the stirring rod 200 is held vertically in the reagent container 112 by holding the upper and lower portions of the rod main body 201 by the concave portion 205 and the holding mechanism 206.

  The drive transmission unit 150 includes a rotational motion transmission unit 160, a vertical motion transmission unit 170, and an arm 180 that couples both.

  The rotation motion transmission means 160 includes a rotation motor 161 attached to the arm 180, a rotation rod 162 rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure by the rotation motor 161, and a disk-like drive transmission attached to the tip of the rotation rod 162. Connection part 163 of the part. The drive transmission connecting portion 163 is formed in the same size as the stirring rod connecting portion 203, and a protrusion 164 is formed at a position matching the notch 204 of the stirring rod connecting portion 203. The drive transmission unit 150 is connected to the stirring rod 200 by inserting the protrusion 164 into the notch 204. In this way, the reagent stirring mechanism 107 constitutes an attaching / detaching means by the connection part 163 of the drive transmission part and the connection part 203 of the stirring bar.

  The vertical motion transmission means 170 includes a vertical motion motor 171 and a belt-shaped vertical motion transmission mechanism 172 that transmits the power of the motor to the stirring bar 200 by moving up and down as indicated by arrows in the drawing. Yes. The vertical motion transmission mechanism 172 is provided integrally with the arm 180 and is attached to the upper end side of the mounting member 181 that extends in the vertical direction, and the lower end attached to the shaft 171 a of the vertical motion motor 171. It is installed between the side pulley 174.

  As described above, the drive transmission unit 150 is rotated or linearly moved as a whole by the rotational motion transmission unit 160 and the vertical motion transmission unit 170 to move between the upper side of the reagent container 112 and the standby position. (Refer to the dotted arc in the vicinity of the reagent stirring mechanism in FIG. 1).

  Next, the operation of the reagent stirring mechanism 107 will be described. 3A to 3F are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the reagent stirring mechanism in FIG.

  When the reagent needs to be stirred, the drive transmission unit 150 is moved above the reagent container 112 (FIG. 3A). Thereafter, the drive transmission unit 150 is lowered into the reagent container 112 (FIG. 3B). If the connection part 163 of a drive transmission part and the connection part 203 of a stirring rod contact, the drive transmission part 150 will be rotated slowly, applying a force slightly downward. During one rotation, the protrusions 164 of both the connecting portions 163 and 203 and the notch 204 are engaged with each other, and the drive transmission portion 150 and the stirring rod 200 are connected. Thus, after connecting the two, the stirring rod 200 is rotated at a predetermined speed and time to stir the reagent solution (FIG. 3C). When the stirring is completed, the drive transmission unit 150 is lifted upward (FIG. 3D). Subsequently, the drive transmission unit 150 is moved to the standby position to wait for the next stirring (FIG. 3 (e)). Thereafter, the agitated reagent is aspirated by the reagent dispensing nozzle 105 (FIG. 3 (f)). At this time, the reagent is aspirated by shifting the position from the stirring bar 200 in order to prevent interference between the probe 105a of the reagent dispensing nozzle 105 and the stirring bar 200 installed in the reagent container 112.

  The connection between the drive transmission unit 150 and the stirring rod 200 described here is realized by a method that does not require an additional drive mechanism. The attachment / detachment means is not limited to the method described above, but may be another method as long as attachment / detachment can be freely performed. For example, a method in which the drive transmission unit grips the stirring unit using a solenoid-driven chuck may be used. Further, when the reagent solution is stirred, the stirring rod 200 may be moved up and down by the up-and-down motion transmitting means 170 in conjunction with the rotation operation.

  According to the reagent stirring mechanism 107 of the present invention, since the stirring bar 200 is dedicated for each reagent container 112, it is possible to avoid mixing of other reagents and cleaning liquid into the reagent to be stirred by the stirring bar 200. Further, since the stirring bar 200 does not need to be cleaned, the throughput can be improved by the amount of time required for cleaning. Furthermore, since it is not necessary to consider the adhesion of reagents and cleaning liquid to the stirring bar 200, a relatively inexpensive resin such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, or the like is used as the material for the stirring bar 200 without water and oil repellent finishing. can do. Furthermore, since the stirring bar 200 is disposable together with the reagent container 112, it is sufficient if the stirring rod 200 is durable enough for the number of times the reagent is used, and maintenance is not required.

  Next, another embodiment of the reagent stirring mechanism of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a reagent stirring mechanism according to another embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the reagent agitation mechanism 300, the operation transmission unit of the drive transmission unit 350 includes only the vertical movement transmission unit 170, and the lower end of the agitation bar 400 has a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the reagent container 112. A disc-shaped float unit 401 is provided.

  The stirring bar 400 is basically held vertically with respect to the reagent container 112 by the holding mechanism 206 in the same manner as the stirring bar 200 described with reference to FIG. The float portion 401 provided at the lower end of the stirring rod 400 is made of a resin having a density lower than that of water, such as polyethylene or polypropylene, and normally floats on the water surface of the reagent solution. In addition, the float portion 401 has a plurality of through holes 401a formed symmetrically. At the upper end of the stirring rod 400, a connecting portion 402 of the stirring rod with the drive transmission portion 350, which is formed in a disc shape with a central portion rounded out, is provided.

  The drive transmission unit 350 has a drive transmission unit connection portion 360 that extends in the vertical direction at the tip of the arm 180 and is attached to the stirring rod 400, and this tip is slightly smaller than the hollow diameter of the stirring rod connection unit 402. It is formed in a disk shape with a small diameter. Thereby, the drive transmission part 350 and the stirring bar 400 are connected by inserting the connection part 360 of the drive transmission part into the cutout of the connection part 402 of the stirring bar. That is, the reagent stirring mechanism 300 constitutes an attaching / detaching means by the both connecting portions 360 and 402.

  In the reagent agitation mechanism 300, during the agitation, the drive transmission unit 350 moves above the agitation rod 400 by a moving means (not shown) from the standby position. Thereafter, the connecting portion 360 of the drive transmission portion with the stirring rod 400 is lowered by the vertical motion transmission means 170 and is engaged with the connecting portion 402 at the upper end of the stirring rod 400. Further, when the drive transmission unit 350 is lowered, the stirring rod 400 is pushed down in the reagent solution. At this time, since the cross-sectional area of the through-hole 401a provided in the float part 401 is overwhelmingly smaller than the cross-sectional area of the reagent container 112, the solution passing through the through-hole 401a is jetted with a large flow velocity. A flow occurs. The jet generated here causes a precipitate such as magnetic particles in the magnetic particle reagent to be rolled up and stirred. The drive transmission unit 350 quickly moves up after the stirring rod 400 is pushed to the bottom of the reagent container 112. As already described, since the float 401 has a density lower than that of water, the float 401 receives buoyancy in the reagent solution and rises to the water surface. After the stirring rod 400 rises to the water surface, or while the stirring rod 400 is raised, the reagent is sucked by the reagent dispensing nozzle (not shown in FIG. 4). Similar to the reagent stirring mechanism 107 shown in FIG. 2, the nozzle performs suction at a position shifted from the center of the reagent container 112 so that the reagent dispensing nozzle and the shaft of the stirring rod 400 do not interfere with each other. Further, in order to prevent the nozzle from hitting the float portion 401 at the lower end of the stirring rod 400, the through hole 401a needs to be formed at a nozzle lowering position and a diameter sufficiently larger than the outer diameter of the nozzle.

  As with the reagent stirring mechanism 107 shown in FIG. 2, any means may be used for attaching and detaching the drive transmission unit 350 and the stirring rod 400 as long as they can be attached and detached. When a chuck using a solenoid mechanism is used, it is also possible to transmit an operation of pulling up the stirring rod, so that more powerful stirring can be achieved by raising and lowering the stirring rod a plurality of times.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the reagent holding unit 101 holds a plurality of reagent containers 112 collectively as the reagent cassette 111, but may be configured to hold each reagent container 112 alone.

  The present invention is particularly applicable to an automatic analyzer that performs measurement using magnetic particles.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Automatic analyzer 101 Reagent holding | maintenance part 102 Sample thermostat 103 Reaction detection part 104 Specimen rack 105 Reagent dispensing nozzle 106 Reagent dispensing nozzle washing apparatus 107 Reagent stirring mechanism 108 Specimen dispensing nozzle 109 Reaction solution dispensing nozzle 110 Specimen rack Transport mechanism 111 Reagent cassette 112 Reagent container 113 Reaction container 114 Sample dispensing tip 115 Sample container 116 Reaction container holder 117 Dispensing tip holder 118 Reaction container and tip transport mechanism 119 Reagent dispensing position 120 Position 122 Specimen dispensing position 123 Chip disposal position 124 Buffer 125 Flow path cleaning solution 150 Drive transmission unit 160 Rotation motion transmission means 161 Rotation motor 162 Rotation rod 163 Drive transmission portion connection section 164 Protrusion 170 Vertical motion transmission means 171 Vertical movement Motor 171a Shaft 172 Vertical motion transmission mechanism 173 Upper end side pulley 174 Lower end side pulley 180 Arm 181 Mounting member 200 Stir bar 201 Bar body 201a Bar body lower end 202 Paddle 203 Stir bar connection 204 Notch 205 Recess 206 Holding mechanism 206a Arm Part 206b Ring part 300 Reagent stirring mechanism 350 Drive transmission part 360 Drive transmission part connection part 400 Stirring bar 401 Float part 401a Through hole 402 Stirring bar connection part L Liquid surface

Claims (6)

  A reagent agitation mechanism of an automatic analyzer having a plurality of reagent containers, the agitation bar provided in each of the plurality of reagent containers, a drive transmission unit for transmitting a driving force to the agitation bar, the agitation bar and the agitation bar A reagent agitation mechanism comprising: an attaching / detaching means for attaching / detaching the drive transmission unit.   2. The reagent stirring mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the drive transmission unit includes a rotational motion transmission unit that transmits a rotational motion to the stirring rod, and the rotational rod is rotated in the reagent solution by the rotational motion transmission unit. And a reagent stirring mechanism, wherein the reagent is stirred.   2. The reagent stirring mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the drive transmission unit includes a vertical motion transmission unit that transmits a vertical motion to the stirring rod, and the vertical motion transmission unit causes the stirring rod to move up and down in the reagent solution. A reagent stirring mechanism that moves and stirs the reagent.   2. The reagent stirring mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the drive transmission unit includes rotation and vertical motion transmission means for alternately or simultaneously transmitting rotational motion and vertical motion to the stirring rod. A reagent stirring mechanism, wherein the stirring rod is rotated and moved up and down in the reagent solution to stir the reagent.   The reagent stirring mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a material of the stirring rod is a resin or a metal that has not been subjected to a water repellent oil treatment.   An automatic analyzer comprising the reagent stirring mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the automatic analyzer is not provided with a stirring bar cleaning mechanism.

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