JP2017063744A - Cell handling vessel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cell handling vessel for handling cells, such as fertilized eggs, that require individual management, the cell handling vessel being capable of substantially preventing problems due to the outflow of culture fluid from a compartment containing cells and the culture fluid.SOLUTION: The present invention provides a cell handling vessel comprising a vessel bottom part and vessel side wall parts. The vessel bottom part includes a housing compartment for cells and culture fluid having a housing compartment bottom and a housing compartment side wall. The housing compartment side wall includes one or more means for culture fluid outflow. The means for culture fluid outflow includes: an opening formed in an inner surface side facing to a space side where the cells and/or the culture fluid can be placed; and an opening formed in an outer surface side facing to an external space side of the housing compartment.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1A1

Description

  The present invention relates to a cell handling container capable of controlling the outflow direction of a culture solution when handling a cell such as a fertilized egg by a microdrop method or the like.

  The in vitro fertilized egg (zygote) is produced by fertilizing sperm and ovum in a culture system, and the fertilized egg goes through the cleavage, morula, and blastocyst stages, and then emerges from the zona pellucida It became possible to culture to the blast stage. For this reason, an auxiliary reproductive technique (ART) has been established not only in the domestic animal field but also in human infertility, in which fertilized eggs in the stage of cleavage to blastocyst are transplanted into the uterus to give birth.

  However, the success rate of pregnancy by in vitro fertilization is not necessarily high. For example, in humans, the pregnancy success rate is still around 25 to 35%. As one of the causes, it can be mentioned that the probability of obtaining a high-quality fertilized egg suitable for transplantation into the uterus is not high in culture. A cultured fertilized egg is individually observed with a microscope to determine whether it is a high-quality fertilized egg suitable for transplantation into the uterus. Accordingly, there is a problem that the determination takes cost and time. Therefore, there is a need for a technique for discriminating high-quality fertilized eggs suitable for transplantation into the uterus at a low cost and in a short time.

  Furthermore, in recent years, research and development of cell therapy / regenerative medicine has progressed, and the need for maintaining a sterile environment during cell culture, ensuring cell quality, and / or rapid culture and discrimination means for a large number of cells is increasing. Therefore, it is required to culture a plurality of fertilized eggs in parallel in one cell handling container.

  For example, Patent Document 1 is a culture container having a bottom wall and a side wall for culturing cells that require individual management, and a cell container having a recess is disposed on the bottom wall, There are four or more recesses close to each other, the opening of the recess is circular, and the wall surface of the recess has an inclined surface that rises from the lowest position of the recess toward the outer edge of the recess, and is conical or The culture vessel is described which has a truncated cone-shaped portion, the pitch between adjacent concave portions is 1 mm or less, and the maximum height Ry is less than 1.0 μm with respect to the surface roughness of the inclined surface.

  Patent Document 2 has a bottom portion and a side wall, and is a cell culture container in which a culture system accommodation compartment having a predetermined capacity is provided therein, and the culture system accommodation compartment has a bottom surface having a uniform thickness, It is composed of a wall surface and a gently curved surface connecting the bottom surface and the wall surface, and the wall surface of the culture system containing compartment is disposed in an inclined state by 5 to 20 ° with respect to the vertical direction of the bottom surface. A container for cell culture is described. This document describes that a plurality of culture system accommodation compartments may be arranged. Moreover, the said literature describes that the identification symbol for recognizing each division may be displayed on the some culture | cultivation system accommodation division.

  Patent Document 3 is a cell culture container having an opening at the top, a recess at the bottom for containing cells and culture solution, and a wall formed so as to increase from the opening end of the recess to the outer edge. The side surface of the recess is formed so as to increase as it proceeds from the bottom surface of the recess to the outer edge, and the angle θ1 formed by the bottom surface and the side surface of the recess is the wall surface of the culture solution storage unit The cell culture vessel is described in which the angle θ2 formed by the bottom surface of the recess and the angle θ1 is 75 ° or less. This document describes an embodiment having a plurality of culture fluid holding sections in addition to the recesses for accommodating cells and culture fluid.

  Since the containers described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 may have a plurality of compartments for containing cells, the cultured cells are classified into a plurality of categories based on criteria such as a growth state, and belong to each category. This is suitable for culturing cultured cells in parallel while individually managing them in one container. For example, a cell classified in the category of “good growth” is stored in a container in a container and cultured, and a cell classified in the category of “poor growth” is cultured in another container in the same container. And can be cultured in parallel.

  As a technique related to a container having a plurality of compartments, for example, Patent Document 4 discloses a fractionation medium in which a medium is injected into each compartment of a fractionation container having a partition inside and fractionated into a plurality of compartments. The fraction medium is characterized in that the height of the medium surface is higher than the height of the partition wall.

Japanese Patent No. 4472854 JP 2006-280298 A JP 2014-207897 Japanese Patent No. 2627142

  As described above, cell handling containers such as culture containers having a plurality of storage compartments capable of culturing in parallel while individually managing cultured cells classified into a plurality of categories are known. Yes. However, there is room for improvement in the conventional cell handling container. These cell handling containers are usually used for cell culture by the microdrop method. In cell culture by the microdrop method, usually, after adding a culture solution to the accommodation compartment, oil is added so as to cover the culture solution, and cells such as fertilized eggs are added to the culture solution. These operations are usually performed using an instrument such as a pipette or glass capillary. In the above operation, when a device such as a pipette or glass capillary is brought into contact with the microdrop of the culture solution, the culture solution forming the microdrop may flow out of the storage compartment beyond the side wall of the storage compartment. There is. Outside the containment compartment, cells that are classified into another category and removed from the containment compartment may be cultured in parallel, so when the culture fluid flows out of the containment compartment, it flows out with the removed cells. There is a possibility of contact with the culture medium. In addition, when the culture solution decreases due to outflow from the storage compartment, a fresh culture solution may be replenished. However, since the culture solution used for cell culture of fertilized eggs and the like is generally expensive, supplementing the culture solution may increase the cost required for the culture. Furthermore, if the side wall of the storage compartment is raised in order to prevent the culture fluid from flowing out as described above, the operability when handling the cells and culture fluid contained in the storage compartment may be impaired.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a cell handling container that handles cells that require individual management, such as a fertilized egg, and can substantially prevent problems caused by the culture fluid flowing out of the compartment containing the cells and the culture fluid. The purpose is to provide a container.

  The present inventors have studied various means for solving the above problems. In a cell handling container having a storage compartment for containing cells and culture medium, the present inventors provide one or more culture liquid outflow means on the side wall of the storage compartment, whereby the outflow when the culture liquid flows out Controlling the direction to a desired direction, without impairing the operability when handling the cells and culture medium stored in the storage compartment, the contact between the outflowed culture solution and cells outside the storage compartment, and the outflow It has been found that problems such as loss of culture medium can be substantially prevented. Based on the above findings, the present inventors have completed the present invention.

That is, the gist of the present invention is as follows.
(1) A cell handling container having a container bottom and a container side wall,
On the bottom of the container, a storage compartment for cells and a culture solution having a storage compartment bottom and a storage compartment sidewall is disposed,
One or more culture fluid outflow means having an opening on the inner surface side facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the housing compartment are provided on the side wall of the housing compartment Arranged,
Cell handling container.
(2) The cell handling container according to (1) above, wherein the one or more culture medium outflow means include a groove formed in the upper surface of the side wall of the storage compartment.
(3) The cell handling container according to (1) above, wherein the one or more culture medium outflow means include a hole formed so as to penetrate the storage compartment side wall.
(4) The one or more culture medium outflow means further includes a bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion extending from the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall facing the external space side of the storage compartment to the outside of the storage compartment. The cell handling container according to any one of (1) to (3).
(5) One or more effluent recovery compartments having a bottom and a side wall are arranged at the bottom of the container,
The cell handling container according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the cell and culture solution storage compartment is disposed inside one or more effluent collection compartments.
(6) The cell handling container according to (5), wherein the height of the side wall portion of the collection compartment for one or more effluents is not more than the height of the side wall portion of the containing compartment.
(7) The cell handling container according to (5) above, wherein the height of the side wall of the collection compartment for one or more effluents exceeds the height of the side wall of the containing compartment.
(8) One or more effluent recovery compartments are disposed at the bottom of the container, having a bottom portion and side wall portions connected at both ends to the outer surface of the accommodation compartment side wall portion facing the external space side of the accommodation compartment. ,
The opening on the outer surface side of the side wall portion of the storage compartment facing the external space side of the storage compartment in the one or more culture medium outflow means is disposed so as to open in the internal direction of the one or more recovery compartments. The cell handling container according to any one of (1) to (4).
(9) Two or more of the collection sections are arranged,
One or more recovery liquid outflow means having an opening on the inner surface facing the space for collecting the effluent and an opening on the outer surface facing the outer space side of the recovery section on the side wall of at least one recovery section Is further arranged,
Both ends of the side wall portion of another recovery section are connected to the outer surface of the side wall portion of the recovery section facing the external space side of the recovery section where one or more recovery liquid outflow means are arranged,
The opening on the outer surface side of the side wall portion of the recovery section facing the external space side of the recovery section in the one or more recovery liquid outflow means is disposed so as to open in the inner direction of another recovery section. The cell handling container described in (8).
(10) Any one of the above (1) to (4), wherein at least one partition wall having one end connected to the outer surface of the side wall of the storage compartment facing the external space side of the storage compartment is disposed at the bottom of the container The cell handling container according to Crab.
(11) The other end of the one or more partition walls is disposed so as to be connected to or separated from the inner surface of the container side wall facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are disposed. The cell handling container according to 1.
(12) The cell handling according to any one of the above (1) to (4), wherein one or more container groove portions arranged so as to surround the cell and culture medium storage compartment are arranged at the bottom of the container. container.
(13) The cell handling container according to any one of (1) to (12), wherein one or more depressions for containing cells are formed at the bottom of the storage compartment.

  According to the present invention, in a cell handling container that handles cells that require individual management, such as a fertilized egg, a cell culture container that can substantially prevent problems caused by the culture medium flowing out from the compartment that contains the cells and the culture liquid is provided. It becomes possible to do.

It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line I-I ′ in FIG. 1A1 in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line V-V ′ in FIG. 1A3 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line VII-VII ′ in FIG. 1C1 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line IX-IX ′ in FIG. 1C3 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line II-II ′ in FIG. 1A1 in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line III-III ′ in FIG. 1A2 in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line VI-VI ′ in FIG. 1A4 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line VIII-VIII ′ in FIG. 1C2 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line X-X ′ in FIG. 1C4 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line IV-IV ′ in FIG. 1A2 in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line XI-XI ′ in FIG. 4 in an embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line XI-XI ′ in FIG. 4 in an embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line XI-XI ′ in FIG. 4 in an embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. FIG. 6B is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XII-XII ′ in FIG. 6A in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 6B is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along XIII-XIII ′ in FIG. 6B in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. FIG. 8B is a schematic vertical sectional view along XIV-XIV ′ in FIG. 8A in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XV-XV ′ in FIG. 8B in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. FIG. 10B is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XVI-XVI ′ in FIG. 10A and XVIII-XVIII ′ in FIG. 10B in an embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 10B is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XVII-XVII ′ in FIG. 10A in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. FIG. 10B is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XIX-XIX ′ in FIG. 10B in one embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention. It is an upper surface schematic diagram of one Embodiment of the cell handling container of this invention. FIG. 13 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line XX-XX ′ in FIG. 12 in an embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention.

  In the present specification, features of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. In the drawings, the size and shape of each part are exaggerated for clarity, and the actual size and shape are not accurately depicted. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the size and shape of each part shown in these drawings.

  The cell handling container of the present invention is, for example, a cell handling container 1 having a container bottom 11 and a container side wall 12 as shown in FIG. 1A1, and the container bottom 11 has a storage compartment bottom 21 and a storage compartment side wall. 22 and the storage compartment 20 for the culture medium and the side wall 22 of the storage compartment need to be provided with one or more culture fluid outflow means 30. By having such characteristics, the outflow direction can be controlled in a desired direction when the culture solution flows out.

  The cell handling container 1 of the present invention has a container bottom part 11 and a container side wall part 12 erected on the periphery of the container bottom part 11. The cell handling container 1 of the present invention has a surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution is placed (hereinafter referred to as “the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are placed). ”,“ Inner surface of the container bottom 11 ”or“ bottom surface of the container ”), and the surface of the container side wall 12 facing the space where the cells and / or culture solution are placed (hereinafter referred to as“ cell and / or culture ”). An inner space having a bottomed shape that is open upward formed by “the inner surface of the container side wall 12 facing the space where the liquid is placed”, “the inner surface of the container side wall 12”, or “the inner wall of the container”) Has 10. The internal space 10 is a space in which cells and / or culture media are placed. The cell handling container 1 of the present invention is usually the surface of the container bottom 11 facing the external space side of the cell handling container 1 (hereinafter referred to as “the outer surface of the container bottom 11 facing the external space side of the cell handling container 1”, “ The container bottom portion 11 is also used in a state where the outer surface ”(also referred to as“ outer bottom surface of the container ”) is horizontal. In the present invention, the arrangement of the cell handling container of the present invention as described above may be referred to as “arrangement in use”. In the present invention, the “vertical direction” means a direction perpendicular to the outer bottom surface of the container in the arrangement during use. In this case, the direction from the container outer bottom surface toward the opening formed by the peripheral edge of the container side wall may be described as the upper direction, and the direction from the opening toward the container outer bottom surface may be described as the lower direction. In the present invention, “height” means the length in the vertical direction of each part of the cell handling container of the present invention in the arrangement at the time of use. In the present invention, the “horizontal direction” means a direction parallel to the outer bottom surface of the container in the arrangement at the time of use.

  The shape and dimensions of the cell handling container 1 of the present invention are not particularly limited as long as the storage compartment 20 capable of storing cells and culture medium can be disposed inside the internal space 10. The shape of the cell handling container 1 is, for example, a figure formed by its peripheral edge when the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged in the arrangement at the time of use is projected on a horizontal plane. , A circle (including a true circle and an ellipse), or a polygon such as a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, or an octagon. It is preferable that the figure formed by the peripheral edge when the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged is projected on a horizontal plane in the arrangement at the time of use is circular. In this case, the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has a circular petri dish shape that is usually used in the technical field. The size of the cell handling container 1 is such that the opening width of the opening of the container side wall 12 is usually in the range of 30 to 60 mm, typically about 35 mm, when viewed from above in the arrangement at the time of use. In the present invention, the “opening width of the opening” means the length of the longest diameter of the figure formed by the outer edge of the opening. For example, when the outer edge of the opening is circular, the size of the opening corresponds to the diameter of the circle. Further, the height of the container side wall 12 is usually in the range of 5 to 20 mm, and typically in the range of 7 to 15 mm. A particularly suitable cell handling container 1 has an opening width of the opening of the container side wall 12 preferably in the range of 30 to 60 mm, more preferably about 35 mm in a top view in the arrangement at the time of use. The height of 12 is preferably in the range of 5-20 mm, more preferably in the range of 7-15 mm, and the container bottom 11 has a circular shape. The cell handling container 1 having such a size and shape has the same shape and size as a circular petri dish usually used for culturing fertilized eggs and the like in the cell culture field. Therefore, the cell handling container of the present invention having the above-mentioned shape and dimensions can be easily adapted to various culture devices and the like usually used in the field of cell culture.

  The shape of the container bottom 11 is not particularly limited. The inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged may be formed so that the substantially entire surface is a horizontal plane in the arrangement during use, and proceeds from the center to the outer edge in the arrangement during use. Accordingly, it may be formed so as to have an inclined surface that increases in the vertical direction. Various shapes of the container bottom of a cell handling container such as a cell culture container known in the art can be applied to the shape of the container bottom 11.

  Similarly, the shape of the container side wall 12 is not particularly limited. The inner surface of the container side wall 12 facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged and / or the surface of the container side wall 12 facing the outer space of the cell handling container 1 (hereinafter referred to as “the outside of the cell handling container 1”). The “outer surface of the container side wall 12 facing the space” or “the outer surface of the container side wall 12” may be formed so that the substantially entire surface is a vertical surface in the arrangement during use. In the arrangement at the time, it may be formed so as to become an inclined surface inclined in the inner direction of the container side wall portion 12 with respect to the vertical surface as it goes from the connecting portion with the container bottom 11 to the upper peripheral edge. Various shapes of the container side wall of a cell handling container such as a cell culture container known in the art can be applied to the shape of the container side wall 12. When the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is made of a material containing a plastic material and is manufactured using a conventional molding method such as injection molding, the container facing the space side in which the cells and / or culture solution is placed If the inner surface of the side wall part 12 and / or the outer surface of the container side wall part 12 facing the outer space side of the cell handling container 1 is formed as an inclined surface as described above, it functions as a draft and is efficient. It is advantageous because it can be released from the mold.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, a cell and culture solution storage compartment 20 is disposed at the container bottom 11. The number and position of the storage compartments 20 in the container bottom 11 are not particularly limited, and any number of storage compartments 20 can be arranged at any position. For example, as shown in FIG. 1A1, in the figure formed by the periphery when the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are arranged in the arrangement at the time of use is projected onto a horizontal plane, One receiving section 20 can be arranged in an area corresponding to the center of gravity of the figure. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1B1, in the figure formed by the periphery when the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged in the arrangement at the time of use is projected onto the horizontal plane, Two storage compartments 20 can be arranged in regions facing each other across the center of gravity of the figure. Alternatively, in the figure formed by the peripheral edge when the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged in the arrangement at the time of use is projected onto the horizontal plane, a polygon inscribed in the figure ( For example, a plurality of receiving sections can be arranged in regions corresponding to respective corners of a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, or the like. In this case, in addition to the same region as described above, one or more accommodation sections can be further arranged in other regions (for example, a region corresponding to the center of gravity of the graphic).

  The storage compartment 20 includes a storage compartment bottom 21 and a storage compartment side wall portion 22 erected on the periphery of the storage compartment bottom 21. The storage compartment 20 is a surface of the storage compartment bottom 21 facing the space where the cells and / or culture solution are arranged (hereinafter, “the inner surface of the containment compartment bottom 21 facing the space where the cells and / or culture solution is arranged” or “Also described as“ inner surface of storage compartment bottom 21 ”), and surface of storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are arranged (hereinafter,“ space side where cells and / or culture solution are arranged ”) The inner surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 or the “inner surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22”).

  The shape and size of the storage compartment 20 are not particularly limited. The shape of the storage compartment 20 is, for example, a figure formed by the periphery when the inner surface of the storage compartment bottom 21 facing the space where the cells and / or the culture solution are placed in the arrangement at the time of use is projected onto a horizontal plane. , A circle (including a true circle and an ellipse), or a polygon such as a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, or an octagon. It is preferable that the figure formed by the peripheral edge when the inner surface of the storage compartment bottom portion 21 facing the space where cells and / or the culture solution are arranged in the arrangement at the time of use is projected on a horizontal plane is circular. For example, in the top view of the arrangement at the time of use, the opening width of the opening of the container side wall 12 is preferably in the range of 30 to 60 mm, more preferably about 35 mm, and the container bottom 11 has a circular shape. In the case of the handling container 1, the dimensions of the storage compartment 20 are preferably such that the opening width of the opening of the storage compartment side wall 22 is in the range of 1.5 to 33.5 mm, as viewed from above in the arrangement during use, and 5 to 15 mm More preferably, it is the range. When the opening width of the opening of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 exceeds the upper limit, in the region outside the storage compartment 20, work such as washing of cells taken out from the storage compartment 20 or culturing or temporary storage by individual management is performed. There is a possibility of impairing operability when performing. Further, when the opening width of the opening of the storage compartment side wall 22 is less than the lower limit value, there is a possibility that the operability when performing operations such as cell culture or temporary storage in the internal space of the storage compartment 20 may be impaired. . Further, in the case where the opening width of the opening of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is in the more preferable range, the cells taken out from the storage compartment 20 are washed in the region outside the storage compartment 20 or cultured or temporarily stored by individual management, etc. In addition to securing a wide space for performing the above operations, the possibility of losing cells in the internal space of the storage compartment 20 can be reduced. For example, in the case of an embodiment in which a plurality of cells are accommodated inside the accommodation compartment 20, for example, an embodiment in which a plurality of depressions are arranged inside the accommodation compartment 20, as will be described below, the accommodation compartment The dimension of 20 is preferably in the range of 3 to 30 mm and more preferably in the range of 5 to 15 mm in the opening width of the opening of the accommodating partition side wall 22 in the top view in the arrangement at the time of use. . When the size of the storage compartment 20 is in the above range, not only can a plurality of depressions be arranged inside the storage compartment 20, but also the operability of cell handling operations in the internal space of the storage compartment 20 can be improved. it can. For example, in the case of an embodiment in which a single cell is accommodated inside the accommodation compartment 20, there are fewer restrictions compared to the embodiment in which a plurality of depressions are arranged inside the accommodation compartment 20, so that the accommodation compartment The size of 20 is preferably in the range of 1.5 to 15 mm, and more preferably in the range of 3 to 7 mm, in the opening width of the housing partition side wall 22 in a top view in the arrangement at the time of use. . When the storage compartment 20 has the above-described shape and the size of the storage compartment 20 is in the above range, a small volume of culture medium normally used for cell culture by the microdrop method, for example, 10 to 100 μL, inside the storage compartment 20 In this case, a drop of the culture solution having a height of usually 0.35 mm or more, for example, 0.5 mm or more is formed in the storage compartment 20, and the drop of the storage compartment bottom 21 is formed by the drop. The entire surface can be covered. Therefore, the cell handling container of the present invention in which the storage compartment 20 has the shape and dimensions can be advantageously used for cell culture by the microdrop method.

  The shape of the storage compartment bottom 21 is not particularly limited. The inner surface of the storage compartment bottom 21 facing the space where the cells and / or culture medium are arranged may be formed so that the substantially entire surface is a horizontal plane in the arrangement at the time of use, and from the center to the outer edge in the arrangement at the time of use. You may form so that it may become an inclined surface which becomes high in the up-down direction as it advances. Various shapes of compartments for accommodating cells and culture solutions in cell handling containers such as cell culture containers known in the art can be applied to the shape of the accommodation compartment bottom 21.

  The cell handling container 1 of the present invention is usually used for observing cells contained therein using a microscope. Here, when the surface roughness of the container bottom 11 of the cell handling container 1 and the storage compartment bottom 21 for storing cells is a large value, a clear image may not be obtained due to surface irregularities. . For this reason, the surfaces of the container bottom 11 and the storage compartment bottom 21 of the cell handling container 1 are preferably smooth surfaces having a surface roughness value as small as possible. Specifically, the maximum height Ry of the surfaces of the container bottom 11 and the storage compartment bottom 21 is preferably less than 1.0 μm, and more preferably less than 0.5 μm. In the present invention, the maximum height Ry means the interval between the peak line and the valley line in the extracted part, by extracting only the reference length from the roughness curve in the direction of the average line. The surface roughness of the surface of the container bottom 11 and the storage compartment bottom 21 can be reduced by increasing the processing accuracy of the mold, for example, by performing a polishing process when preparing the mold of the cell handling container 1 of the present invention. it can. Moreover, the measurement of surface roughness can be performed using a normal cross-sectional shape measuring apparatus. Measurement conditions include, for example, a double-scan high-precision laser measuring instrument (manufactured by Keyence Corporation, LT-9010M) and a high-precision shape measurement system (Keyence Corporation, KS-1100) that can be measured at a measurement interval of 5 μm. it can.

  The shape of the storage compartment side wall 22 is not particularly limited. The inner surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged, and / or the surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space of the storage compartment 20 (hereinafter referred to as “the outside of the storage compartment 20”). The outer surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the space ”or“ the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 ”may be formed so that substantially the entire surface is a vertical surface in the arrangement during use. In the arrangement at the time of use, it is formed to be an inclined surface that is inclined in the inner direction of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 with respect to the vertical surface as it proceeds from the connection portion with the storage compartment bottom 21 to the upper peripheral edge portion. Also good. Various shapes of the partition side wall for accommodating cells and culture solution in a cell handling container such as a cell culture container known in the art can be applied to the shape of the storage partition side wall 22. When the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is made of a material containing a plastic material and is manufactured using a conventional molding method such as injection molding, the cell handling container 1 is accommodated toward the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged. When the inner surface of the partition side wall 22 and / or the outer surface of the storage partition side wall 22 facing the outer space side of the storage partition 20 is formed as an inclined surface as described above, it functions as a draft and is efficient. It is advantageous because it can be released from the mold.

  In the present invention, the height of the storage compartment side wall is the vertical direction from the connecting portion of the storage compartment side wall and the bottom of the storage compartment to the upper end of the storage compartment side wall in the schematic vertical sectional view of the cell handling container of the present invention. Means the length of Further, in the present invention, the thickness of the side wall of the storage compartment is the width of the side wall of the storage compartment in the schematic vertical sectional view of the cell handling container of the present invention, that is, the storage facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged. It means the distance between the inner surface of the compartment side wall and the outer surface of the compartment side wall facing the outer space side of the compartment. For example, when substantially the entire inner surface and outer surface of the storage compartment side wall are formed to be vertical surfaces in use, the width of the storage compartment side wall in the vertical sectional schematic view is constant. Since there is, the width of an arbitrary position can be adopted. On the other hand, when the inner surface and / or the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall portion are formed to be inclined surfaces, the maximum value of the width of the storage compartment side wall portion in the vertical sectional schematic view may be adopted. For example, when the height of the container side wall 12 is preferably in the range of 5 to 20 mm, more preferably in the range of 7 to 15 mm, the height of the storage compartment side wall 22 is in the range of 1 to 9 mm. Is preferred. When the height of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is less than the lower limit value, it may be difficult to put a sufficient amount of the culture solution inside the storage compartment 20. When the height of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 exceeds the upper limit, when the cell handling container 1 has a lid, the storage compartment side wall portion 22 and the lid come into contact with each other to close the opening of the container side wall portion 12. May interfere. When the height of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is within the above range, a drop of the culture solution is formed inside the storage compartment 20 and an amount of oil exceeding the height of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is put into the internal space 10 Thus, substantially the entire surface of the culture solution can be covered with oil, and evaporation of the culture solution can be substantially suppressed. In the case of the above embodiment, the height of the storage compartment side wall 22 is 2 to 6 mm so that a sufficient amount of the culture solution can be put inside the storage compartment 20 and the evaporation of the culture solution is further suppressed. More preferably, it is the range. Further, the thickness of the accommodating partition side wall 22 is preferably in the range of 0.3 to 3 mm, and more preferably in the range of 0.5 to 1.5 mm. When the thickness of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 exceeds the upper limit value, a space for performing work inside the storage compartment 20 may be narrowed. Moreover, when the thickness of the storage compartment side wall part 22 is less than the said lower limit, the intensity | strength of the storage compartment side wall part 22 falls and / or shaping | molding may become difficult. Therefore, when the thickness of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is within the above range, a sufficient space for working inside the storage compartment 20 is secured and sufficient strength of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is secured. Can do.

The structure of the storage compartment side wall 22 is not particularly limited. The interior of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 can usually be filled almost completely with the material constituting the storage compartment side wall portion. However, the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 may have a void portion inside if necessary. In the present invention, the porosity of the storage compartment side wall means the percentage (volume%) of the volume of the cavity of the storage compartment side wall with respect to the total volume of the storage compartment side wall. For example, the porosity (volume%) of the side wall of the storage compartment is
Porosity of accommodation compartment side wall = (volume of cavity) / (total volume of accommodation compartment side wall) × 100
Is calculated by For example, in the embodiment in which the inside of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is almost completely filled with the material constituting the storage compartment side wall portion, the porosity is substantially 0% by volume. In the case of the embodiment having a void portion inside the accommodating partition side wall portion 22, the porosity of the accommodating partition side wall portion is preferably 10% by volume or more, since the material can be reduced as the porosity is higher, and is preferably 20% by volume. More preferably, it is more preferably 30% by volume or more, and since the strength may be reduced if the porosity is too high, it is preferably 90% by volume or less, and 80% by volume. More preferably, it is more preferably 70% by volume or less. By having a space | gap part inside a storage division side wall part, the material which comprises a storage division side wall part can be reduced according to the porosity. Thereby, the manufacturing cost of the cell handling container of the present invention can be reduced.

  The optical characteristics of the storage compartment side wall 22 are not particularly limited. The cell handling container 1 of the present invention is usually used for observing cells contained therein using a microscope. For this reason, the container bottom 11 of the cell handling container 1 and the cell storage compartment bottom 21 for storing cells usually have optical characteristics that do not substantially impede observation with a microscope, for example, substantially transparent and colorless optical Has characteristics. However, the storage compartment side wall 22 may also have different optical properties, such as a different transparency and color combination than the storage compartment bottom 21 in some cases. Since the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is not located on the optical axis that connects the cell to be observed and the objective lens, even if the optical properties of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 are obstructive to observation with a microscope, There is no substantial effect on the observation. Optical properties such as a combination of transparency and color of the storage compartment side wall 22 can be imparted when or after making the cell handling container 1 or the storage compartment 20 of the present invention. For example, when the cell handling container 1 and the storage compartment 20 of the present invention are made of a material containing plastic and are integrally manufactured by injection molding, a master batch method, a dry blend method, a kneading method, or a surface coating method A desired combination of transparency and color can be imparted by adding an additive such as a bluing agent or various pigments in a transparent plastic molded article using the above method.

  The surface characteristics of the storage compartment side wall 22 are not particularly limited. In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the surfaces of the container bottom 11 and the cell containing compartment bottom 21 of the cell handling container are preferably smooth surfaces having a surface roughness value as small as possible. However, since the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is not located on the optical axis connecting the cell to be observed and the objective lens, even if the surface roughness of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is a value that can hinder observation with a microscope, There is no substantial effect on the observation of the cells. Therefore, the storage compartment side wall 22 may have a surface roughness different from that of the storage compartment bottom 21 in some cases. In the case of this embodiment, the surface roughness of the storage compartment side wall can be set as appropriate from the above-described preferred range. The surface roughness of the storage compartment side wall can be adjusted by the method described above.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the storage compartment side wall 22 may be formed integrally with the cell handling container 1 or may be formed as a separate member from the cell handling container 1. In the case of the latter embodiment, the storage compartment side wall portion 22 formed as a separate member may be formed of the same material as the cell handling container 1, and is formed of a material separate from the cell handling container 1. Also good.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, it is necessary that one or more culture medium outflow means 30 be disposed on the side wall 22 of the storage compartment. The one or more culture fluid outflow means 30 are usually provided with an opening on the inner surface side of the housing partition side wall 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are placed and a housing section facing the outer space side of the housing section 20. An opening on the outer surface side of the side wall portion 22 and a flow path connecting these openings are provided. Examples of the flow path included in the one or more culture medium outflow means 30 include a groove formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 and a hole formed so as to penetrate the storage compartment side wall 22. be able to. The one or more culture medium outflow means 30 include an opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged, and a storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20. It is preferable that the flow path connecting the opening on the outer surface side includes a groove formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 or a hole formed so as to penetrate the storage compartment side wall 22.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the one or more culture fluid outflow means 30 preferably include a groove 31 formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall 22. This embodiment is shown in FIG. 2A. FIG. 2A is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along line I-I ′ in FIG. 1A1.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2A, the container bottom 11 is provided with a storage compartment 20 for cells and culture solution, and the storage compartment side wall 22 has an inner side facing the space where the cells and / or culture solution are placed. One or more culture medium outflow means 30 including a groove portion 31 formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 having an opening on the front surface side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 are disposed. can do. In this case, the ratio (h ₁ / h ₀ ) between the height h ₀ of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 and the height h ₁ of the culture medium outflow means including the groove 31 is a sufficient amount inside the storage compartment 20. Is preferably 0.7 or more, and more preferably 0.8 or more. The ratio (h ₁ / h ₀ ) is preferably less than 1 because h ₁ can be flowed out through the medium outflow means if h ₁ is slightly lower than h ₀ , and the medium outflow is more surely achieved. It is more preferably 0.9 or less because the culture solution can flow out in a desired direction through the means. However, h ₁ <h ₀ . In the present invention, the height of the culture solution outflow means is the space side in which cells and / or culture solution are arranged from the connection portion between the side wall portion of the storage compartment and the bottom portion of the storage compartment in the schematic vertical sectional view of the cell handling container of the present invention. Length in the vertical direction to the lower end of the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing toward (hereinafter also referred to as “the height of the opening on the inner surface side of the culture medium outflow means”) or the outside of the storage compartment Of the length in the vertical direction to the lower end portion of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 facing the space side (hereinafter also referred to as “the height of the opening on the outer surface side of the culture medium outflow means”), Means the maximum length. For example, in the culture medium outflow means, the height of the opening on the inner surface side of the culture liquid outflow means and the height of the opening on the outer surface side of the culture liquid outflow means may be the same. In this case, an opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or culture medium are arranged and an opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20 are provided. The bottom part of the connecting flow path is substantially parallel to the container bottom part 11. Alternatively, the height of the opening on the inner surface side of the culture medium outflow means and the height of the opening on the outer surface side of the culture liquid outflow means may be different. In this case, since the culture solution can be flowed out in a desired direction through the culture solution outflow unit, the height of the opening on the outer surface side of the culture solution outflow unit is lower than the height of the opening on the inner surface side of the culture solution outflow unit. It is preferable. For example, when the height h ₀ of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is in the range described above, the height h ₁ of the culture medium outflow means including the groove portion 31 is in the range described above (h ₁ / h ₀ ). It can set suitably from the value which satisfy | fills. When the storage compartment 20 has the above-described shape and the size of the storage compartment 20 is in the above range, a small volume of culture medium normally used for cell culture by the microdrop method, for example, 10 to 100 μL, inside the storage compartment 20 In this case, a drop of the culture solution having a height of usually 0.35 mm or more, for example, 0.5 mm or more is formed in the storage compartment 20, and the drop of the storage compartment bottom 21 is formed by the drop. The entire surface can be covered. Then, the culture fluid outflow section 30 is said shape, and when the height h ₁ of the culture liquid outflow means 30 of the range, by the height of the drop becomes h ₁ or more, the culture forming a drop When the liquid flows out of the storage compartment 20 beyond the storage compartment side wall 22, the culture liquid can flow out in the opening direction of the culture fluid outflow means 30. With such a configuration, the cell handling container of the present invention can control the outflow direction of the culture solution when handling cells such as fertilized eggs by the microdrop method. Therefore, the cell handling container of the present invention can be advantageously used for cell culture by the microdrop method.

  In the present embodiment, the shape of the culture solution outflow means 30 including the groove 31 is not particularly limited. As the cross-sectional shape of the groove portion 31, various shapes such as a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, a polygon such as a hexagon or an octagon, a semicircle, or a U shape can be adopted. In this case, the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or culture medium are arranged and the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 are: The shape of the figure formed by the periphery of the opening preferably has the same shape as the cross-sectional shape of the groove 31.

  FIG. 2E is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line II-II ′ in FIG. 1A1. For example, as shown in FIG. 2E, the cross-sectional shape of the groove 31 and the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged and the external space side of the storage compartment 20 are faced. The shape of the figure formed by the peripheral edge of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall 22 is a triangle (hereinafter referred to as “V-shaped”) in which one vertex is oriented downward in the arrangement in use. It is preferable that the shape is as described. In the case of the shape described above, the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged, and the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20 The lower end of the opening is the apex of a triangle oriented downward. In this case, the flow path of the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 is narrow. Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, even if the culture solution flows out when handling the cells and the culture solution stored in the storage compartment 20 using an instrument such as a pipette or a glass capillary, the outflow amount is reduced to a small amount. can do.

  Alternatively, the cross-sectional shape of the groove 31 and the opening on the inner surface side of the accommodation compartment side wall 22 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are arranged and the outer surface of the accommodation compartment side wall 22 facing the outer space of the accommodation compartment 20 The shape of the figure formed by the peripheral edge of the side opening can also be a quadrangular shape. In the case of the shape, the surface tension at the opening is higher than in the V-shaped and U-shaped embodiments described below. For this reason, the lower limit value of the amount of the culture solution when the culture solution begins to flow out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 can be increased as compared with the V-shaped and U-shaped embodiments. As a result, a larger amount of culture solution can be held inside the storage compartment 20. Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, the operability when handling the cells and the culture solution stored in the storage compartment 20 using an instrument such as a pipette or a glass capillary can be improved.

  Alternatively, the cross-sectional shape of the groove 31 and the opening on the inner surface side of the accommodation compartment side wall 22 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are arranged and the outer surface of the accommodation compartment side wall 22 facing the outer space of the accommodation compartment 20 The shape of the figure formed by the peripheral edge of the side opening can also be a U-shape. In the case of the shape, the surface tension at the opening is higher than in the V-shaped embodiment. For this reason, the lower limit value of the amount of the culture solution when the culture solution starts to flow out of the storage compartment 20 can be made higher than that of the V-shaped embodiment. Therefore, it is possible to improve the operability when handling the cells and culture solution stored in the storage compartment 20 using an instrument such as a pipette or a glass capillary. Further, in the case of the above-described shape, the flow path of the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 is narrower than that of the embodiment having the quadrangular shape. Therefore, even if the culture solution flows out when handling the cells and the culture solution stored in the storage compartment 20 using an instrument such as a pipette or a glass capillary, the outflow amount can be reduced.

  In the case of this embodiment, the opening on the inner surface side of the accommodation section side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged and the outer surface side of the accommodation section side wall portion 22 facing the outer space side of the accommodation section 20 are arranged. The opening width of the opening is preferably in the range of 0.3 to 5 mm, and more preferably in the range of 0.5 to 1 mm. The opening width of the opening on the inner surface side and the outer surface side of the housing partition side wall portion 22 is set in a range smaller than the opening width of the opening portion of the housing partition side wall portion 22 in which the opening is formed. When the opening width of the opening on the inner surface side and outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is less than the lower limit value, the culture solution flows out from the portion other than the opening, and it is difficult to control the outflow direction of the culture solution There is sex. In addition, when the opening width of the inner surface side and the outer surface side opening of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 exceeds the upper limit value, the outflow amount of the culture solution may increase, and it may be difficult to control the outflow amount of the culture solution. There is. In this case, the dimension of the cross-sectional shape of the groove 31 is usually directed to the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged, and to the external space side of the storage compartment 20. The dimension of the opening width of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall 22 may be in the same range. Alternatively, for example, in the case of an embodiment in which the shape of the storage compartment 20 is circular or the like, the inner surface and the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 are curved. In the case of such an embodiment, the dimensions of the cross-sectional shape of the groove 31 are the opening on the inner surface side of the housing section side wall portion 22 and the opening on the outer surface side of the housing section side wall portion 22 as viewed from the center of the housing section 20. In order to make the corners the same, for example, the opening width of the opening on the outer surface side of the housing partition side wall portion 22 is made larger than the opening width of the opening on the inner surface side of the housing partition side wall portion 22, etc. The opening width dimension of the opening on the inner surface side of the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the container is disposed and the opening width of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 facing the outer space side of the accommodating partition 20 are set as different ranges. Also good. When the culture solution outflow means 30 including the groove portion 31 has the shape and dimensions, the flow direction and the outflow amount of the culture solution can be controlled when cells such as fertilized eggs are handled by the microdrop method.

  In another embodiment of the present invention, the one or more culture fluid outflow means 30 preferably include a hole 32 formed so as to penetrate the accommodation compartment side wall 22. This embodiment is shown in FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along line III-III ′ in FIG. 1A2.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the container bottom 11 is provided with a cell and culture solution storage compartment 20, and the storage compartment side wall 22 has an inner side facing the space where the cells and / or culture solution are placed. One or more culture solution outflow means including a hole 32 having an opening on the surface side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 and formed to penetrate the storage compartment side wall 22 30 can be arranged. In this case, the ratio (h ₂ / h ₀ ) between the height h ₀ of the storage compartment side wall 22 and the height h ₂ of the culture medium outflow means including the hole 32 is sufficient in the interior of the storage compartment 20. The amount is preferably 0.7 or more, more preferably 0.8 or more because an amount of the culture solution can be added. In addition, the ratio (h ₂ / h ₀ ) is preferably less than 1 since h ₂ can be flowed out through the medium outflow means if h ₂ is slightly lower than h ₀ , and the medium outflow is more reliably performed. It is more preferably 0.9 or less because the culture solution can flow out in a desired direction through the means. However, h ₂ <h ₀ . For example, when the height h ₀ of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is in the range described above, the height h ₂ of the culture medium outflow means including the hole portion 32 is equal to (h ₂ / h ₀ ) described above. It can set suitably from the value which satisfy | fills a range. When the storage compartment 20 has the above-described shape and the size of the storage compartment 20 is in the above range, a small volume of culture medium normally used for cell culture by the microdrop method, for example, 10 to 100 μL, inside the storage compartment 20 In this case, a drop of the culture solution having a height of usually 0.35 mm or more, for example, 0.5 mm or more is formed in the storage compartment 20, and the drop of the storage compartment bottom 21 is formed by the drop. The entire surface can be covered. Then, a culture solution outlet means 30 said shape, and when the height h ₂ of the culture solution outlet means 30 of the range, by the height of the drop is h ₂ or more, the culture forming a drop When the liquid flows out of the storage compartment 20 beyond the storage compartment side wall 22, the culture liquid can flow out in the opening direction of the culture fluid outflow means 30. With such a configuration, the cell handling container of the present invention can control the outflow direction of the culture solution when handling cells such as fertilized eggs by the microdrop method. Therefore, the cell handling container of the present invention can be advantageously used for cell culture by the microdrop method.

  In the present embodiment, the shape of the culture solution outflow means 30 including the hole 32 is not particularly limited. Various shapes in which the cross-sectional shape of the hole 32 is a circle (including a true circle and an ellipse), or a polygon such as a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, or an octagon can be employed. In this case, the peripheral edge of the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged and the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 The shape of the figure formed by is preferably the same shape as the cross section of the hole 32.

  FIG. 3E is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line IV-IV ′ in FIG. 1A2. For example, as shown in FIG. 3E, the cross-sectional shape of the hole 32, the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the space where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged, and the external space side of the storage compartment 20 The shape of the figure formed by the peripheral edge of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 facing toward is preferably a circular shape (including a true circle and an ellipse). In the case of the shape, the surface tension at the opening is increased. For this reason, the lower limit of the amount of the culture solution when the culture solution begins to flow out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 can be increased. As a result, a larger amount of culture solution can be held inside the storage compartment 20. Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, the operability when handling the cells and the culture solution stored in the storage compartment 20 using an instrument such as a pipette or a glass capillary can be improved.

  In the case of this embodiment, the opening width of the opening on the inner surface side and the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall 22 is preferably in the range of 0.3 to 5 mm, and preferably in the range of 0.5 to 1 mm. More preferred. The opening width of the opening on the inner surface side and the outer surface side of the housing partition side wall portion 22 is set in a range less than the opening width opening width of the opening portion of the housing partition side wall portion 22 in which the opening is formed. When the opening width of the opening on the inner surface side and outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is less than the lower limit value, the culture solution flows out from the portion other than the opening, and it is difficult to control the outflow direction of the culture solution There is sex. In addition, when the opening width of the inner surface side and the outer surface side opening of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 exceeds the upper limit value, the outflow amount of the culture solution may increase, and it may be difficult to control the outflow amount of the culture solution. There is. In this case, the dimension of the cross-sectional shape of the hole portion 32 is normally set to the opening on the inner surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the cells and / or the culture solution are arranged, and to the external space side of the storage compartment 20. The size of the opening width of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 facing may be set to the same range. Alternatively, for example, in the case of an embodiment in which the shape of the storage compartment 20 is circular or the like, the inner surface and the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 are curved. In the case of such an embodiment, the dimensions of the cross-sectional shape of the hole 32 are the opening on the inner surface side of the housing section side wall portion 22 and the opening on the outer surface side of the housing section side wall portion 22 as viewed from the center of the housing section 20. In order to make the opening angle the same, for example, by increasing the opening width of the opening on the outer surface side of the housing partition side wall portion 22 than the opening width of the opening on the inner surface side of the housing partition side wall portion 22, The opening width dimension of the opening on the inner surface side of the accommodating section side wall portion 22 facing the space side where the liquid is arranged and the opening width of the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodating section side wall portion 22 facing the outer space side of the accommodating section 20 are different from each other. It is good. When the culture solution outflow means 30 including the hole portion 32 has the shape and dimensions, when the cells such as fertilized eggs are handled by the microdrop method, the outflow direction and the outflow amount of the culture solution can be controlled.

In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the number of the culture medium outflow means 30 may be one or more, and the upper limit is not particularly limited. In the case of an embodiment having two or more culture solution outflow means 30, the shape and size of each culture solution outflow means 30 may be the same or different from each other. Further, the culture medium outflow means 30 can be arranged at an arbitrary position on the storage compartment side wall 22. For example, as shown in FIGS. 1A3 and 1A4, in the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, two culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′ may be arranged at positions facing the storage compartment side wall portion 22. 2B is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along VV ′ in FIG. 1A3, and FIG. 3B is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along VI-VI ′ in FIG. 1A4. In the case of this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 2B and 3B, the heights h ₁ and h ₁ ′, h ₂ and h ₂ ′ of the _two culture medium outflow means 30 and 30 ′ may be the same or different from each other. It may be.

  Further, for example, as shown in FIGS. 1B1 and 1B2, the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has two storage compartments having storage compartment bottoms 21, 21 ′ and accommodation compartment side walls 22, 22 ′ at the container bottom 11. 20, 20 ′ may be arranged, and one culture solution outflow means 30, 30 ′ may be arranged on each of the storage compartment side walls 22, 22 ′.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, one or more culture fluid outflow means 30 extend outside the accommodation compartment 20 from the opening on the outer surface side of the accommodation compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the accommodation compartment 20. It is preferable to further include a bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. 2C to 2D and FIGS. 3C to 3D. 2C is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line VII-VII ′ in FIG. 1C1, FIG. 2D is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line IX-IX ′ in FIG. 1C3, and FIG. FIG. 3D is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along line VIII ′ in FIG. 1C4.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2C, the container bottom 11 is provided with a cell and culture solution storage compartment 20, and the storage compartment side wall 22 has an inner surface facing the space where the cells and / or culture solution are arranged. One or more culture medium outflow means 30 including a groove portion 31 formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 are disposed, having an opening on the side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 The one or more culture medium outflow means 30 is a bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion extending from the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 to the outside of the storage compartment 20 33 may further be included. In this case, the height h ₀ of the accommodating compartment side wall portion 22, the ratio (h ₃ / h ₀₎ of the height h ₃ of the gutter-shaped liquid receiving portion 33, a sufficient amount of the interior of the housing compartment 20 It is preferably 0.7 or more, more preferably 0.8 or more because a culture solution can be added. The ratio (h ₃ / h ₀ ) is preferably less than 1 because h ₃ can be flowed out through the medium outflow means if h ₃ is slightly lower than h ₀ , and the medium outflow more reliably. It is more preferably 0.9 or less because the culture solution can flow out in a desired direction through the means. However, it is preferable that h ₁ ≦ h ₃ <h ₀ and h ₁ <h ₃ <h ₀ . In the present invention, the height h ₃ of the bowl-shaped liquid receiving part 33 is the vertical cross-sectional schematic view of the cell handling container of the present invention, and the bowl-shaped liquid receiving part from the connection part between the storage compartment side wall and the storage compartment bottom. It means the length in the vertical direction up to the tip of. In the case of the present embodiment, for example, when the height h ₀ of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is in the range described above, the height h ₃ of the bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33 is described above (h ₃ / It can be set appropriately from a value satisfying the range of h ₀ ). When the storage compartment 20 has the above-described shape and the size of the storage compartment 20 is within the above range, the culture solution can flow out so as to drop from the tip of the bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33. Thereby, the outflow position of the culture solution can be precisely controlled in the peripheral region around the tip of the bowl-shaped liquid receiving part 33.

  The bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33 has a shape extending from at least a part of the peripheral edge of the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 to the distal end portion outside the storage compartment 20. If it has, the specific shape is not particularly limited. For example, when the shape of the figure formed by the peripheral edge of the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 is a V-shape, the bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33 is V The shape may extend linearly from the letter-shaped opening to the outer end of the receiving section 20. Alternatively, when the shape of the figure formed by the periphery of the opening on the outer surface side of the storage section side wall portion 22 facing the external space side of the storage section 20 is a circular shape, the bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33 has a circular shape. It can have a shape that extends in a concave shape from a part below the opening to the outer end of the accommodating section 20.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the number of bowl-shaped liquid receiving portions 33 may be one or more, and the upper limit is not particularly limited. In the case of an embodiment having two or more culture medium outflow means 30, all the culture medium outflow means 30 may include a bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33, and some of the two or more culture medium outflow means 30 are bowl-shaped. The liquid receiving portion 33 may be included. Since the outflow position of the culture medium can be precisely controlled for all the culture medium outflow means 30, it is preferable that all the culture medium outflow means 30 include the bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion 33. In the case of an embodiment including a plurality of bowl-shaped liquid receiving portions 33, the shape and dimensions of the bowl-shaped liquid receiving portions 33 may be the same as or different from each other. For example, as shown in FIGS. 2D and 3D, when the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has two culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′, each of the two culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′ has one piece. It is preferable to include bowl-shaped liquid receiving portions 33 and 33 ′. In the case of this embodiment, the heights of the two bowl-shaped liquid receiving portions 33 and 33 ′ may be the same or different from each other. With such a configuration, the outflow position of the culture medium can be precisely controlled for both of the two culture medium outflow means 30, 30 '.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, one or more effluent recovery compartments 40 having a bottom part 41 and a side wall part 42 can be arranged on the container bottom part 11 in some cases. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. In the following description and the drawings cited therein, as one or more culture solution outflow means, a culture solution outflow means including a groove formed in the upper surface of the side wall of the storage compartment is illustrated. However, in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention described below, the one or more culture solution outflow means include a culture solution outflow means or a storage compartment side wall including a groove formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall. It may be a culture solution outflow means including a hole formed so as to penetrate, or a combination thereof. Either case is included in the embodiment of the cell handling container of the present invention.

  The effluent recovery section 40 includes a bottom 41 and a side wall 42 erected on the periphery of the bottom 41. The effluent recovery compartment 40 is a surface of the bottom 41 facing the space for collecting the effluent (hereinafter referred to as “the inner surface of the bottom 41 facing the space for collecting the effluent”) or “the bottom of the effluent collection compartment 40. 41 ") and the surface of the side wall 42 facing the space for collecting the effluent (hereinafter," the inner surface of the side wall 42 facing the space for collecting the effluent ") or" collecting the effluent " (Also referred to as “inner surface of side wall portion 42 of compartment 40”).

  In the embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has the recovery compartment 40, the shape and dimensions of the recovery compartment 40 are not particularly limited. As the shape of the recovery compartment 40, for example, the figure formed by the periphery when the inner surface of the bottom 41 facing the space side for recovering the effluent of the recovery compartment 40 in the arrangement at the time of use is projected on a horizontal plane is circular. (Including true circles and ellipses) or polygons such as triangles, quadrangles, pentagons, hexagons, and octagons. It is preferable that the figure formed by the peripheral edge when the inner surface of the bottom 41 facing the space for collecting the effluent of the collection compartment 40 in the arrangement at the time of use is projected on a horizontal plane is a circle. Regarding the size of the collection section 40, it is preferable that the opening width of the opening portion of the side wall portion 42 of the collection section 40 is 3 to 10 mm larger than the opening width of the opening portion of the housing section side wall portion 22. For example, in the top view of the arrangement at the time of use, the opening width of the opening of the container side wall 12 is preferably in the range of 30 to 60 mm, more preferably about 35 mm, and the container bottom 11 has a circular shape. In the case of the handling container 1, it is preferable that the size of the collection section 40 is such that the opening width of the opening portion of the side wall portion 42 of the collection section 40 is in the range of 2 to 34 mm in a top view in the arrangement at the time of use. When the collection section 40 has the shape and the size of the collection section 40 is in the above range, the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the storage section 20 can be substantially prevented from diffusing to the outside of the collection section 40. .

  The shape of the bottom 41 of the effluent recovery compartment 40 is not particularly limited. The inner surface of the bottom 41 that faces the space where the effluent is collected may be formed so that the substantially entire surface is a horizontal plane in the arrangement during use, and the height increases in the vertical direction as it proceeds from the center to the outer edge in the arrangement during use. It may be formed to be an inclined surface. Various shapes of compartments for containing cells and culture fluid in cell handling containers such as cell culture vessels known in the art can be applied to the shape of the effluent collection compartment 40.

  The surface of the bottom 41 and the side wall 42 of the effluent recovery compartment 40 is a smooth surface having a surface roughness value as small as possible, similar to the surfaces of the container bottom 11 and the storage compartment bottom 21 described above. Preferably there is.

  The shape of the side wall portion 42 of the effluent recovery compartment 40 is not particularly limited as long as it satisfies the requirements described below. The inner surface of the side wall 42 facing the space side for collecting the effluent of the effluent recovery section 40 and / or the surface facing the outer space side of the effluent collection section 40 (hereinafter referred to as the “outside of the effluent collection section 40” The “outer surface of the side wall portion 42” or “the outer surface of the side wall portion 42 of the effluent recovery compartment 40” on the space side) is formed so that the substantially entire surface is a vertical surface in the arrangement during use. In the arrangement at the time of use, it is formed so as to become an inclined surface inclined in the inner direction of the side wall portion 42 with respect to the vertical surface as it goes from the connection portion with the bottom portion 41 of the recovery section 40 to the upper peripheral edge portion. It may be. If the requirements described below can be satisfied, various shapes of the partition side walls for accommodating the cells and the culture solution in cell handling containers such as cell culture containers known in the art can be obtained. It can be applied to shapes. When the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is made of a material containing a plastic material and is manufactured using a conventional molding method such as injection molding, the inner surface and / or the outer surface of the side wall portion 42 of the recovery compartment 40 is used. If the surface is formed as an inclined surface as described above, it is advantageous because it functions as a draft and can be released efficiently.

  The structure of the side wall portion of the effluent recovery compartment is not particularly limited. The inside of the side wall portion of the recovery compartment can usually be almost completely filled with the material constituting the side wall portion of the recovery compartment. However, the side wall portion of the recovery section may have a void portion in the inside thereof, as in the case of the storage section side wall portion described above. In the case of the embodiment in which the side wall portion of the recovery compartment has a void portion therein, the porosity of the side wall portion of the recovery compartment is calculated in the same manner as the porosity of the storage compartment side wall portion. In the case of this embodiment, it is preferable that the porosity of the side wall portion of the recovery compartment is in the same range as the porosity of the housing compartment side wall portion described above. By having the void portion inside the side wall portion of the recovery section, the material constituting the side wall portion can be reduced according to the porosity. Thereby, the manufacturing cost of the cell handling container of the present invention can be reduced.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the side wall portion 42 of the effluent collection compartment 40 may be formed integrally with the cell handling container 1, or may be formed as a separate member from the cell handling container 1. Good. In the case of the latter embodiment, the side wall part 42 of the effluent recovery compartment 40 formed as a separate member may be formed of the same material as the cell handling container 1, and the material separate from the cell handling container 1 May be formed.

  In the present invention, the height of the side wall of the recovery compartment for the effluent is the upper end of the side wall of the recovery compartment from the connection between the side wall and the bottom of the recovery compartment in the schematic vertical sectional view of the cell handling container of the present invention. It means the length of up and down direction. In the present invention, the thickness of the side wall portion of the effluent recovery compartment is defined as the width of the side wall portion of the recovery compartment in the schematic vertical sectional view of the cell handling container of the present invention, that is, the effluent of the effluent recovery compartment. It means the distance between the inner surface of the side wall part facing the space to be collected and the outer surface of the side wall part facing the outer space side of the recovery section for the effluent. For example, in the case where substantially the entire inner surface and outer surface of the side wall portion of the recovery section are formed to be vertical surfaces in use, the width of the side wall portion of the recovery section in the vertical sectional schematic view is Since it is constant, an arbitrary position width can be adopted. On the other hand, when the inner surface and / or outer surface of the side wall portion of the recovery section is formed to be an inclined surface, the maximum value of the width of the side wall portion of the recovery section in the vertical cross-sectional schematic diagram is adopted. Good. The height and thickness of the side wall portion 42 of the collection section 40 can be arbitrarily set within the preferable range of the height and thickness of the storage section side wall portion 22 described above.

  In the embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has one or more effluent collection compartments 40, the cell and culture solution storage compartment 20 is disposed inside one or more effluent collection compartments 40. Preferably it is. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A-5C. 5A to 5C are schematic vertical sectional views taken along line XI-XI 'in FIG.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A, the container bottom 11 is provided with a storage compartment 20 for cells and culture medium, and the storage compartment side wall 22 faces the space where the cells and / or culture medium are arranged. A culture solution outflow means 30 having an opening on the inner surface side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20 and including a groove portion 31 formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 is disposed. The container bottom 11 is provided with an effluent recovery compartment 40 having a bottom 41 and a side wall 42, and the cell and culture solution storage compartment 20 is arranged inside the effluent recovery compartment 40. It is preferable. In the case of this embodiment, when the culture solution flows out from the inside of the storage compartment 20, the outflow range of the culture solution can be kept inside the collection compartment 40. With such a configuration, for example, the region outside the collection compartment 40 of the container bottom 11 is removed when used for culturing in parallel while individually managing the cells removed from the storage compartment 20. It is possible to substantially prevent the cells from coming into contact with the outflowed culture solution.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, the height of the side wall 42 of one or more effluent recovery compartments 40 can be less than or equal to the height of the containing compartment side wall 22. When the height of the side wall portion 42 of the recovery compartment 40 has the above-described characteristics, the side wall portion 42 of the recovery compartment 40 becomes an obstacle when handling the cells and the culture medium stored in the inside of the storage compartment 20 for cells and culture medium. Can be substantially suppressed. Therefore, in the case of this embodiment, the operability when handling the cells and the culture solution stored in the storage compartment 20 using an instrument such as a pipette or a glass capillary can be improved.

  Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5C, the height of the side wall portion 42 of the one or more effluent collection compartments 40 can exceed the height of the side wall portion 22 of the cell and culture solution storage compartment 20. When the height of the side wall portion 42 of the recovery compartment 40 has the above characteristics, a large amount of culture solution can be held inside the recovery compartment 40. Thereby, even if a large amount of culture solution flows out from the inside of the storage compartment 20, the outflow range of the culture solution can be kept inside the collection compartment 40.

  In an embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has one or more effluent recovery compartments 40, the recovery compartment 40 has an outer surface of the bottom 41 and the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space of the storage compartment 20 And at least one opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 in the one or more culture medium outflow means 30. It is preferable that they are arranged so as to open in the inner direction of the recovery section 40. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, and 7A and 7B. 7A is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along XII-XII ′ in FIG. 6A, and FIG. 7B is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along XIII-XIII ′ in FIG. 6B.

  In one embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 7A, the container bottom 11 is provided with a cell and culture solution storage compartment 20, and the storage compartment side wall 22 is provided with cells and / or culture solution. Medium having an opening on the inner surface side facing the space side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20, and including a groove portion 31, 31 ′ formed on the upper surface of the side wall portion 22 of the storage compartment Outflow means 30, 30 'are arranged. The container bottom 11 has one or more effluent recovery compartments having a bottom 41 and side walls 42 having both ends connected to the outer surface of the accommodation compartment side wall 22 facing the external space of the accommodation compartment 20. 40, 40 'are arranged. Here, the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 in the one or more culture medium outflow means 30 opens in the internal direction of the one or more recovery compartments 40. Is arranged. In FIGS. 6A and 7A, an embodiment having two collection sections 40, 40 ′ is shown. However, in the present embodiment, one or more collection sections may be arranged in a state satisfying a predetermined condition. The upper limit of the number is not particularly limited. In the case of the present embodiment, each of the openings of the one or more culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′ provided on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 has one or more It arrange | positions so that it may open to each internal direction of collection | recovery divisions 40 and 40 '. Thereby, the culture solution which flowed out from the inside of a storage division can be hold | maintained efficiently, reducing the area of the bottom part of a collection | recovery division. With such a configuration, for example, when the region outside the collection compartment in the bottom of the container is used for culturing in parallel while individually managing cells taken out from the storage compartment, The contact with the cultured medium can be substantially prevented.

  In another embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 6B and 7B, the container bottom 11 is provided with a storage compartment 20 for cells and culture fluid, and the cells and / or culture fluid are supplied to the storage compartment side wall 22. A culture having an opening on the inner surface facing the space side to be arranged and an opening on the outer surface facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20 and including grooves 31 and 31 ′ formed on the upper surface of the side wall portion 22 of the storage compartment Liquid outflow means 30, 30 'are arranged. The container bottom part 11 has two or more effluent recovery compartments having a bottom part 41 and side wall parts 42 connected at both ends to the outer surface of the accommodation compartment side wall part 22 facing the external space side of the accommodation compartment 20. 40, 40 ′, 40 ″, 40 ′ ″ are preferably arranged. Here, the opening on the inner surface side of the side wall portions 42, 42 ′ facing the space side for collecting the effluent and the recovery compartments 40, 40 ′ and the side wall portions 42, 42 ′ of the at least one recovery compartment 40, 40 ′. One or more recovery liquid outflow means 50, 50 'having an opening on the outer surface side facing the external space side of the other recovery section 40' ', 40' '' side wall 42 ' The side walls 42, 40 'of the recovery compartments 40, 40' are oriented at the outer space side of the recovery compartments 40, 40 'in which one or more recovery liquid outlet means 50, 50' are arranged. Connected to the outer surface of 42 ', the side walls 42, 42' of the recovery compartments 40, 40 'facing the external space side of the recovery compartments 40, 40' in one or more recovery liquid outlet means 50, 50 ' It is preferable that the opening on the outer surface side is arranged so as to open in the inner direction of the other collection sections 40 ″, 40 ′ ″. In FIGS. 6B and 7B, an embodiment having four collection compartments 40, 40 ′, 40 '', 40 ′ '' is shown, but in this embodiment two or more collection compartments are defined. The upper limit value of the number is not particularly limited as long as it is arranged in a state satisfying the condition. In the case of this embodiment, each of the openings of the culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′ provided on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 corresponds to each of the recovery compartments 40, 40 ′. It is arrange | positioned so that it may open in the inside direction. Further, each of the openings of the recovery liquid outflow means 50, 50 ′ provided on the outer surface side of the side walls 42, 42 ′ of the recovery compartments 40, 40 ′ facing the external space side of the recovery compartments 40, 40 ′ is different. The recovery compartments 40 ″ and 40 ′ ″ are arranged so as to open in the inner direction. Thereby, the culture solution which flowed out from the inside of a storage division can be hold | maintained efficiently, reducing the area of the bottom part of a collection | recovery division. Moreover, the culture solution which flowed out from the collection | recovery division adjacent to a storage division can be hold | maintained in another collection | recovery division. With such a configuration, for example, when the region outside the collection compartment in the bottom of the container is used for culturing in parallel while individually managing cells taken out from the storage compartment, The contact with the cultured medium can be substantially prevented. In addition, a plurality of recovery compartments can be distinguished from each other and used for different purposes (for example, for culturing removed cells, for washing removed cells, or for washing instruments such as pipettes or glass capillaries). it can.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, one or more partition walls 61 can be disposed on the container bottom 11 in some cases. One or more partition walls 61 are connected at one end to the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20, and the side wall of the container facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged It is preferable that the other end is connected to or separated from the inner surface of 12. This embodiment is shown in FIGS.

  The partition wall 61 can partition the internal space 10 of the cell handling container 1 of the present invention into a plurality of compartments. The partitions partitioned by the partition wall 61 are the container facing the side of the partition wall 61, the inner surface of the container bottom 11 facing the space where cells and / or culture solution are placed, and the space facing the cells and / or culture solution. It has a bottomed shape that opens upward and is formed by the inner surface of the side wall portion 12 and the outer surface of the housing section side wall portion 22 facing the outer space side of the housing section 20.

  The surface of the partition wall 61 is preferably a smooth surface having a surface roughness value as small as possible, similar to the surfaces of the container bottom 11 and the cell housing compartment bottom 21 described above.

  The shape of the partition wall 61 is not particularly limited as long as the requirements described below can be satisfied. The side surface of the partition wall 61 may be formed so that the substantially entire surface is a vertical surface in the arrangement at the time of use. It may be formed to be an inclined surface inclined in the inner direction of the partition wall 61. If the requirements described below can be satisfied, various shapes of the partition side walls for accommodating cells and culture solutions in cell handling containers such as cell culture containers known in the art are applied to the shape of the partition wall 61. be able to. When the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is made of a material containing a plastic material and is manufactured using a conventional molding method such as injection molding, the side surface of the partition wall 61 is an inclined surface as described above. If formed in this way, it functions as a draft and is advantageous because it can be efficiently released.

  The structure of the partition wall 61 is not particularly limited. The inside of the partition wall 61 can usually be almost completely filled with the material constituting the partition wall 61. However, the partition wall portion 61 may have a void portion in the interior thereof as the case may be, as in the case of the accommodation partition side wall portion described above. In the case of an embodiment in which the partition wall 61 has a void portion therein, the porosity of the partition wall 61 is calculated in the same manner as the porosity of the accommodating partition side wall. In the case of the present embodiment, the porosity of the partition wall 61 is preferably in the same range as the porosity of the accommodating partition side wall described above. By having the void portion inside the partition wall portion 61, the material constituting the partition wall portion 61 can be reduced according to the porosity. Thereby, the manufacturing cost of the cell handling container of the present invention can be reduced.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the partition wall 61 may be formed integrally with the cell handling container 1, or may be formed as a separate member from the cell handling container 1. In the case of the latter embodiment, the partition wall portion 61 formed as a separate member may be formed of the same material as the cell handling container 1, or may be formed of a material different from the cell handling container 1. .

  In the present invention, the height of the partition wall 61 is the vertical length from the connection between the partition wall 61 and the container bottom 11 to the upper end of the partition wall 61 in the vertical cross-sectional schematic view of the cell handling container of the present invention. Means. In the present invention, the thickness of the partition wall 61 means the width of the partition wall 61 in the vertical cross-sectional schematic view of the cell handling container of the present invention, that is, the distance between the side surfaces of the partition wall 61. For example, when the substantially entire side surface of the partition wall 61 is formed to be a vertical surface in use, the width of the partition wall 61 in the vertical cross-sectional schematic diagram is constant, so that Can be adopted. On the other hand, when the side surface of the partition wall portion 61 is formed to be an inclined surface, the maximum value of the width of the partition wall portion 61 in the vertical cross-sectional schematic diagram may be adopted. The height and thickness of the partition wall portion 61 can be arbitrarily set within a preferable range of the height and thickness of the accommodating partition side wall portion 22 described above.

  An embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has one or more partition walls 61 is shown in FIGS. 9A is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along XIV-XIV ′ in FIG. 8A, and FIG. 9B is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along XV-XV ′ in FIG. 8B.

  In one embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 9A, the container bottom 11 is provided with a cell and culture solution storage compartment 20, and the storage compartment side wall 22 is provided with cells and / or culture solution. Medium having an opening on the inner surface side facing the space side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20, and including a groove portion 31, 31 ′ formed on the upper surface of the side wall portion 22 of the storage compartment Outflow means 30, 30 'are arranged. The container bottom 11 is provided with one or more partition walls 61, and the one or more partition walls 61 have one end on the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space of the storage compartment 20. It is preferably arranged so that the other end is connected to the inner surface of the container side wall portion 12 that is connected and faces the space where cells and / or culture solution are arranged. 8A and 9A show an embodiment having four partition walls 61. However, in the case of this embodiment, it is sufficient that one or more partition walls 61 are arranged in a state satisfying a predetermined condition. The upper limit of the number is not particularly limited. In the case of the present embodiment, of the internal space partitioned by the partition wall 61, the section adjacent to the culture solution outflow means 30, 30 ′ is used as a section for holding the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the storage section 20. Can do. In addition, it is unlikely that the culture fluid that has flowed out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 enters a compartment that is not adjacent to the culture fluid outflow means 30, 30 ′. Therefore, in the internal space partitioned by the partition wall 61, in order to cultivate the compartments that are not adjacent to the culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′ in parallel while individually managing the cells taken out from the containing compartments When used, it is possible to substantially prevent the removed cells from coming into contact with the culture medium that has flowed out.

  In another embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 8B and 9B, one or more partition walls 61 are disposed on the container bottom 11, and the one or more partition walls 61 are arranged in the external space of the storage compartment 20. One end is connected to the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 facing the side, and the inner surface and the other end of the container side wall portion 12 facing the space side in which the cells and / or the culture solution are disposed are separated from each other. It is preferable. 8B and 9B show an embodiment having four partition walls 61. However, in the case of this embodiment, it is sufficient that one or more partition walls 61 are arranged in a state satisfying a predetermined condition. The upper limit of the number is not particularly limited. The distance between the inner surface of the container side wall 12 and the end of the partition wall 61 is preferably 3 mm or more, more preferably 10 mm or more, and preferably 20 mm or less. More preferably, it is 15 mm or less. In the case of the present embodiment, the internal space partitioned by the partition wall 61 communicates with each other via a space between the inner surface of the container side wall 12 and the end of the partition 61. With such a configuration, the culture fluid that has flowed out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 is not limited to the compartment adjacent to the culture fluid outflow means 30, 30 ′, but also between the inner surface of the container side wall portion 12 and the end of the partition wall portion 61. It can also be held in other compartments communicating with each other through the space between them. Therefore, the cell handling container of this embodiment can efficiently hold the culture solution that has flowed out from the inside of the storage compartment.

  In the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, one or more container groove parts 71 can be arranged on the container bottom part 11 in some cases. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. Since the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has one or more container grooves 71, the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 can be efficiently held in the container grooves 71.

  In the embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has the container groove 71, the surface of the container groove 71 has a surface roughness value similar to the surfaces of the container bottom 11 and the cell storage compartment bottom 21 described above. A smooth surface that is as small as possible is preferred.

  The shape of the container groove 71 is not particularly limited as long as the requirements described below can be satisfied. As the cross-sectional shape of the container groove 71, for example, various shapes such as a polygon such as a triangle, a quadrangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, an octagon, a semicircle, or a U shape can be adopted.

  In the present invention, the depth of the container groove 71 is the vertical cross-sectional schematic view of the cell handling container of the present invention, the inner surface of the container groove 71 from the peripheral edge of the opening of the container groove 71 formed on the inner surface of the container bottom 11 It means the length in the vertical direction up to the lowest part. The depth of the container groove 71 is preferably 0.3 mm or more, more preferably 0.6 mm or more, more preferably 2 mm or less, and even more preferably 1.5 mm or less. When the depth of the container groove 71 is less than the lower limit value, the volume of the container groove 71 becomes small, so that it may be difficult to hold a sufficient amount of the culture solution in the container groove 71. When the depth of the container groove 71 exceeds the upper limit, the thickness of the container bottom 11 needs to be increased. In such a case, when observing cells using an inverted microscope, the objective lens is excessively brought close to the cell handling container 1, which may make observation difficult. The width of the container groove 71 is preferably 0.5 mm or more, more preferably 3 mm or more, more preferably 10 mm or less, and even more preferably 5 mm or less. When the width of the container groove 71 is less than the lower limit value, the volume of the container groove 71 becomes small, so that it may be difficult to hold a sufficient amount of the culture solution in the container groove 71. Further, when the width of the container groove portion 71 exceeds the upper limit value, the internal space 10 for performing work may be narrowed. The depth and width of the container groove 71 may have the same value throughout the container groove 71 or may have different values in a part thereof. Since the container groove 71 has the above-described dimensions, the culture solution that has flowed out of the storage compartment 20 can be efficiently held inside the container groove 71.

  In an embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has one or more container groove portions 71, it is preferable that one or more container groove portions 71 are arranged so as to surround the cell and culture solution storage compartment 20. . This embodiment is shown in FIGS. 10A and 11A and 11B. 11A is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XVI-XVI 'in FIG. 10A and XVIII-XVIII' in FIG. 10B, and FIG. 11B is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along XVII-XVII 'in FIG. 10A.

  In one embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 11A and 11B, the container bottom 11 is provided with a storage compartment 20 for cells and culture fluid, and the storage compartment side wall 22 has cells and / or cultures. An opening on the inner surface side facing the space side where the liquid is disposed and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20, and grooves 31 and 31 'formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 The culture medium outflow means 30 and 30 'are arranged. Further, one or more container groove portions 71 are disposed on the container bottom 11, and the one or more container groove portions 71 are preferably disposed so as to surround the cell and culture solution storage compartment 20. . In FIG. 10A, an embodiment having one container groove 71 is shown, but in the case of this embodiment, it is sufficient that one or more container grooves 71 are arranged in a state satisfying a predetermined condition. The upper limit of the number is not particularly limited. In the case of the present embodiment, the container groove 71 arranged so as to surround the storage compartment 20 can be used as a compartment for holding the culture solution that has flowed out of the storage compartment 20. Further, it is unlikely that the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 enters the region outside the container groove 71 in the container bottom 11. Therefore, when the region outside the container groove 71 in the container bottom 11 is used for culturing in parallel while individually managing the cells taken out from the storage compartment, the taken-out cells and the culture solution that has flowed out are Contact can be substantially prevented. Therefore, the cell handling container of this embodiment can be advantageously used for cell culture by the microdrop method.

  In the embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has one or more container grooves 71, the one or more container grooves 71 are directed to the external space side of the storage compartment in the one or more culture fluid outflow means 30. It is preferable that the side wall portion 22 is disposed so as to face the opening on the outer surface side. This embodiment is shown in FIG. 10B and 11A and 11C. 11A is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view along XVIII-XVIII ′ in FIG. 10B, and FIG. 11C is a vertical cross-sectional schematic diagram along XIX-XIX ′ in FIG. 10B.

  In one embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 10B and 11A and 11C, the container bottom 11 is provided with a storage compartment 20 for cells and culture fluid, and the storage compartment side wall 22 has cells and / or cultures. An opening on the inner surface side facing the space side where the liquid is disposed and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the storage compartment 20, and grooves 31 and 31 'formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall portion 22 The culture medium outflow means 30 and 30 'are arranged. One or more container groove portions 71, 71 ′ are arranged on the container bottom 11, and each of the one or more container groove portions 71, 71 ′ has one or more culture solution outflow means 30, 30. It is preferable that they are arranged so as to face each of the openings on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20 in FIG. In FIG. 10B, an embodiment having two container groove portions 71 and 71 ′ is shown, but in the case of this embodiment, it is sufficient that one or more container groove portions are arranged in a state that satisfies a predetermined condition. The upper limit of the number is not particularly limited. In the case of the present embodiment, the container groove 71 arranged so as to face each of the openings of the culture medium outflow means 30, 30 ′ provided on the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall 22 facing the external space side of the storage compartment 20. , 71 ′ can be used as a compartment for holding the culture solution flowing out from the inside of the containing compartment 20. Further, it is unlikely that the culture solution that has flowed out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 enters the region outside the container groove portions 71 and 71 ′ in the container bottom portion 11. For this reason, when the region outside the container groove 71, 71 ′ in the container bottom 11 is used for culturing in parallel while individually managing the cells extracted from the storage compartment, the culture that has flowed out with the extracted cells. Contact with the liquid can be substantially prevented. Therefore, the cell handling container of this embodiment can be advantageously used for cell culture by the microdrop method.

  The cell handling container 1 of the present invention may have the culture solution collection section 40, the collected solution outflow means 50, the partition wall section 61, and the container groove section 71 described above, respectively, or in any combination. You may do it. In the case of the latter embodiment, when handling cells such as fertilized eggs by the microdrop method, the outflow direction and the outflow amount of the culture solution can be controlled more precisely.

  For example, as shown in FIGS. 2A (b) to 3E (b), one or more indentations 80 for accommodating cells are preferably formed in the storage compartment bottom 21. By disposing the cells inside the recess, the movement of the cells can be suppressed. Thereby, even when a plurality of cells are accommodated in one accommodation section 20, it is possible to evaluate or determine a specific cell while distinguishing each cell. In the present embodiment, the shape of the recess 80 is not particularly limited. As the shape of the recess 80, for example, the figure formed by the periphery of the opening is a circle (including a true circle and an ellipse), or a polygon such as a triangle, a rectangle, a pentagon, a hexagon, or an octagon. The shape can be mentioned. The figure formed by the periphery of the opening is preferably circular. The recess 80 is continuous so that the peripheral edge of the opening is circular, and the inner surfaces of the bottom and side walls become higher from the lowest position in the vertical direction to the peripheral edge of the upper opening in the arrangement during use. It preferably has a curved surface inclined. It is preferable that the inner surfaces of the bottom part and the side wall part together form a shape including a conical or frustoconical part. In this case, the conical or frustoconical portion is located on the container bottom side of the cell handling container (that is, on the lower side in the arrangement in use), which is the apex of the cone or the lower surface of the upper and lower surfaces of the truncated cone. The surface is formed so as to be oriented. In this embodiment, the conical shape is not only a cone and an elliptical cone, but also a shape in which the apex of the cone or the elliptical cone is rounded, a shape in which a conical surface bulges outward, and a conical surface is recessed inward. Similar shapes such as shapes are also included. In addition, the truncated cone shape is not only a truncated cone and an elliptical truncated cone, but also has a shape in which a junction between the upper surface or the lower surface of the truncated cone or the truncated elliptical cone and the truncated cone is rounded, and the truncated cone surface is expanded outward. Shapes similar to these, such as a shape and a shape in which a conical surface is recessed inward, are also included. Moreover, the inner surface of the bottom part and the side wall part of the hollow part 80 is not limited to the above-mentioned shape, and other shapes such as a polygonal pyramid shape or a polygonal frustum shape may be formed.

  The size of the indented portion 80 is not particularly limited as long as it is a size capable of accommodating at least one cell inside. In the present invention, the “dimension of the depression” means the length of the longest diameter of the figure formed by the periphery of the opening of the depression. For example, when the periphery of the opening of the recess 80 is circular, the diameter may be a value that is the same as or larger than the maximum dimension of the accommodated cell. For example, when a fertilized egg is cultured using the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, it is usually cultured to the blastocyst stage. In this case, the diameter of the circular opening of the depression 80 is preferably larger than the maximum cell size at the blastocyst stage. Since the maximum size of cells in the blastocyst stage is usually 100 μm to 280 μm, the diameter of the circular opening of the recess 80 is usually 100 μm or more.

  For example, when a human fertilized egg is cultured using the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the diameter of the opening of the recess 80 is usually 100 μm or more, preferably 200 μm or more, preferably 250 μm. More preferably, it is 1000 μm or less, preferably 900 μm or less, and more preferably 800 μm or less. Or the diameter of the opening part of the hollow part 80 can also be prescribed | regulated as X + (alpha) (here X represents the maximum dimension of a cell). Here, α is preferably 0.01 mm or more, and more preferably 0.02 mm or more.

  The cell handling container 1 of the present invention can have a lid if desired. By having the lid, it is possible to close the opening of the container side wall portion 12 so as to substantially prevent the entry of foreign matter into the internal space 10 while ensuring the air permeability of the internal space 10.

  In the embodiment in which the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has a lid, one or more top side walls can be arranged on the top of the lid. This embodiment is shown in FIGS. FIG. 13 is a schematic vertical sectional view taken along the line XX-XX ′ in FIG.

  In the present embodiment, for example, as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the container bottom 11 is provided with a cell and culture solution storage compartment 20, and the storage compartment side wall 22 is provided with cells and / or culture solution. A culture medium outflow means 30 including an opening on the inner surface side facing the space side and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the storage compartment, and including a groove portion 31 formed on the upper surface of the side wall portion 22 of the storage compartment. Be placed. Further, it is preferable that one or more top side wall portions 112 are disposed on the top portion 111 of the lid 110. The one or more top side wall portions 112 are normally erected from the inner surface of the top portion 111 of the lid 110 that faces the container bottom 11 when the lid 110 is closed. The one or more top side wall portions 112 are preferably disposed so as to surround the periphery of the cell and culture solution storage compartment 20 when the lid 110 is closed. Further, the one or more top side wall portions 112 preferably have such a height that the lower end portion of the top side wall portion 112 contacts the inner surface of the container bottom portion 11 when the lid 110 is closed. With such a configuration, the one or more top side wall portions 112 can function as a barrier for holding the culture solution that has flowed out of the storage compartment 20 when the lid 110 is closed. For this reason, the cell handling container 1 of the present invention having a lid having the above characteristics substantially prevents the culture fluid flowing out from the inside of the storage compartment 20 from diffusing over the entire bottom 11 of the container during movement. Can be suppressed.

  The material of the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is not particularly limited. Examples of the material of the cell handling container 1 and the cell storage compartment 20 include inorganic materials such as metal, glass and silicon, and plastics (for example, polystyrene resin, polyester resin, polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin, ABS resin, nylon, acrylic resin). , Fluororesins, polycarbonate resins, polyurethane resins, methylpentene resins, phenol resins, melamine resins, epoxy resins, and vinyl chloride resins). The material of the cell handling container 1 and the cell storage compartment 20 preferably includes one or more kinds of plastic materials exemplified above, and more preferably consists of one or more kinds of plastic materials exemplified above. The plastic material is obtained by adding an additive such as a bluing agent or various pigments in a transparent plastic molded article using a method such as a master batch method, a dry blend method, a kneading method, or a surface coating method. A combination of transparency and color can be imparted. Therefore, when the cell handling container 1 and the cell storage compartment 20 of the present invention are composed of the above-described materials, a clear image can be obtained when observing cells contained in the cell storage compartment 20 using an optical microscope. Can be obtained.

  The cell handling container 1 of the present invention can be produced by methods known to those skilled in the art. For example, when the material of the cell handling container 1 of the present invention includes one or more plastic materials exemplified above, the cell handling container 1 of the present invention can be produced using a conventional molding method such as injection molding. it can.

  The cell handling container 1 of the present invention may be provided with a surface treatment or a surface coat so as to promote the development of a fertilized egg. For example, when co-culturing with cells of other organs (for example, endometrial cells or fallopian tube epithelial cells) in order to promote the development of a fertilized egg, these co-cultured cells are previously stored in the cell handling container 1 It is necessary to adhere to the surface. In such a case, it is advantageous to coat the surface of the cell handling container 1, for example, the inner surface of the container bottom 11 and / or the inner surface of the receiving compartment bottom 21 with a cell adhesive material. Examples of the cell adhesive material include an environmental response capable of changing the cell adhesive property under a predetermined condition such as a temperature responsive polymer described in JP 2008-220320 A and JP 2008-263863 A, for example. Can be mentioned. By performing the surface treatment or surface coating, the culture efficiency in co-culture can be improved.

  The type of cells cultured and / or observed using the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is not particularly limited. Examples of the cells include fertilized eggs, egg cells, ES cells (embryonic stem cells), and iPS cells (artificial pluripotent stem cells). In the present invention, “egg cell” means an unfertilized egg cell, and includes an immature oocyte and a mature oocyte. After fertilization, the fertilized egg increases in number of cells at the 2-cell stage, 4-cell stage, and 8-cell stage by cleavage, and develops into a blastocyst through a morula. Fertilized eggs include early embryos such as 2-cell embryos, 4-cell embryos and 8-cell embryos, morulas, and blastocysts (including early blastocysts, expanded blastocysts and escaped blastocysts). A blastocyst means an embryo composed of external cells with the potential to form the placenta and internal cell masses with the potential to form embryos. ES cell means an undifferentiated pluripotent or totipotent cell obtained from the inner cell mass of a blastocyst. An iPS cell refers to a cell that has been imparted a pluripotency similar to that of an ES cell by introducing several types of genes (transcription factors) into somatic cells (mainly fibroblasts). That is, the target cells in the cell handling container 1 of the present invention include not only single cells but also a collection of a plurality of cells such as fertilized eggs and blastocysts. The cell handling container 1 of the present invention is suitable for culturing mammalian and avian cells, particularly mammalian cells. Mammals mean warm-blooded vertebrates, for example, primates such as humans and monkeys, rodents such as mice, rats and rabbits, pets such as dogs and cats, and domestic animals such as cattle, horses and pigs. Can be mentioned.

The cell handling container 1 of the present invention can be advantageously used for cell culture of the cells by the microdrop method. Usually, after adding a culture solution to the storage compartment 20, oil is added so as to cover the culture solution, and further cells are added to the culture solution. These operations are usually performed using an instrument such as a pipette or glass capillary. Since the cell handling container 1 of the present invention has a large upper opening, these operations can be performed relatively easily. For example, a drop of the culture solution having a height less than the heights h ₁ and h ₂ of the culture solution outflow means 30 is formed inside the storage compartment 20, and the substantially entire surface of the storage compartment bottom 21 is covered with the drop. Here, when a device such as a pipette or a glass capillary is inserted into the drop of the culture solution, the height of the drop becomes h ₁ or h ₂ or more, so that the culture solution forming the drop is contained in the storage compartment side wall 22. And may flow out of the containment compartment 20. In such a case, since the culture solution flows out of the storage compartment 20 through the culture solution outflow means 30 disposed on the storage compartment side wall 22, the culture solution flows out in the opening direction of the culture solution outflow means 30. Can be made. Therefore, when the cell handling container 1 of the present invention is applied to cell culture of cells by the microdrop method, the outflow direction can be controlled in a desired direction when the culture solution flows out.

For example, when the cell culture of the cells is performed using the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, the cell culture usually contains the gas necessary for the growth and maintenance of the cultured cells. It is carried out by placing it in an incubator that provides an ambient atmosphere and a constant ambient temperature. In the case of this embodiment, examples of necessary gas include water vapor, free oxygen (O ₂ ), and carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ). By adjusting the environmental temperature and the CO ₂ content to appropriate ranges, the pH of the culture solution can be stabilized within a certain time. By comparing an image of cells in culture with an image stored in advance by an image comparison program, the culture conditions such as temperature, gas, and culture medium can be adjusted.

  For example, when a fertilized egg is cultured using the cell handling container 1 of the present invention, it is usually determined after the culture whether the fertilized egg is a good quality suitable for transplantation into the uterus. In the case of the present embodiment, the determination may be performed automatically or manually with an optical microscope or the like. When performing automatic discrimination of cultured cells, images of cells inside the storage compartment 20 obtained by an optical microscope are captured using a detection device such as a CCD camera, and the obtained images are subjected to contour extraction processing. By extracting a portion corresponding to the cell in the image and analyzing the extracted image of the cell with an image analyzer, the quality of the cell (eg, a fertilized egg) can be determined. As the image contour extraction processing, for example, means described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-337110 can be employed.

  As described above in detail, the cell handling container of the present invention can flow the culture solution in the opening direction of the culture solution discharge means when the culture solution stored in the storage compartment flows out. Therefore, the cell handling container of the present invention can be advantageously used for cell culture by the microdrop method.

1 ... Cell handling container
10 ... Interior space of the container
11 ... Bottom of container
12 ... Container side wall
20, 20 '... Containment compartment
21 ... Bottom of storage compartment
22, 22 '... side wall of storage compartment
30 ... Media outflow means
31 ... Groove
32 ... hole
40, 40 ', 40'',40'''… Culture recovery compartment
41, 41 ', 41'',41''' ... bottom of recovery compartment
42, 42 ', 42'',42'''… side wall of recovery compartment
50, 50 '... Recovery liquid outflow means
51, 51 '… Groove
61 ... Partition wall
71, 71 '... Container groove
80 ... depression
110 ... lid
111… The top of the lid
112 ... Head side wall
h ₀ ... Height of side wall of accommodating compartment
h ₁ , h ₂ , h ₁ ', h ₂ '… Height of the culture medium outflow means
h ₃ ... height of bowl-shaped liquid receiver

Claims (13)

A cell handling container having a container bottom and a container side wall,
On the bottom of the container, a storage compartment for cells and a culture solution having a storage compartment bottom and a storage compartment sidewall is disposed,
One or more culture fluid outflow means having an opening on the inner surface side facing the space where cells and / or culture medium are arranged and an opening on the outer surface side facing the outer space side of the housing compartment are provided on the side wall of the housing compartment Arranged,
Cell handling container.   2. The cell handling container according to claim 1, wherein the one or more culture medium outflow means include a groove formed on the upper surface of the storage compartment side wall.   2. The cell handling container according to claim 1, wherein the one or more culture fluid outflow means include a hole formed so as to penetrate the storage compartment side wall.   The one or more culture solution outflow means further include a bowl-shaped liquid receiving portion extending from the opening on the outer surface side of the storage compartment side wall facing the external space side of the storage compartment to the outside of the storage compartment. The cell handling container according to any one of -3. At the bottom of the container, one or more effluent recovery compartments having a bottom and a side wall are arranged,
The cell handling container according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the cell and culture solution storage compartment is disposed inside one or more effluent collection compartments.   6. The cell handling container according to claim 5, wherein the height of the side wall portion of the collection compartment for one or more effluents is equal to or less than the height of the storage compartment side wall portion.   6. The cell handling container according to claim 5, wherein the height of the side wall of the collection compartment for one or more effluents exceeds the height of the side wall of the containing compartment. One or more effluent recovery compartments having a bottom portion and side wall portions connected at both ends to the outer surface of the accommodation compartment side wall portion facing the external space side of the accommodation compartment are disposed at the container bottom,
The opening on the outer surface side of the side wall portion of the storage compartment facing the external space side of the storage compartment in the one or more culture medium outflow means is disposed so as to open toward the inside of the one or more recovery compartments. Item 5. The cell handling container according to any one of Items 1 to 4. Two or more of the collection compartments are arranged,
One or more recovery liquid outflow means having an opening on the inner surface facing the space for collecting the effluent and an opening on the outer surface facing the outer space side of the recovery section on the side wall of at least one recovery section Is further arranged,
Both ends of the side wall portion of another recovery section are connected to the outer surface of the side wall portion of the recovery section facing the external space side of the recovery section where one or more recovery liquid outflow means are arranged,
The opening on the outer surface side of the side wall portion of the recovery section facing the external space side of the recovery section in the one or more recovery liquid outflow means is disposed so as to open in the inner direction of another recovery section. Item 9. A cell handling container according to Item 8.   5. One or more partition walls, one end of which is connected to the outer surface of the storage compartment side wall facing the external space side of the storage compartment, are disposed on the bottom of the container. Cell handling container.   11. The cell handling according to claim 10, wherein the other end of the one or more partition walls is disposed so as to be connected to or separated from the inner surface of the container side wall facing the space where the cells and / or the culture solution are disposed. container.   5. The cell handling container according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein one or more container grooves arranged so as to surround the cell and culture solution storage compartment are arranged at the bottom of the container.   The cell handling container according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein one or more hollow parts for containing cells are formed at the bottom of the containing compartment.

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