JP2018088992A - Cryopreservation container - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cryopreservation container which can accommodate more samples compared with the conventional one and a canister used for the same.SOLUTION: A cryopreservation container 1 used for freezing samples such as vitrified embryos is configured by storing a plurality of sample storing canisters 3a, 3b in a container body 2 in a manner to take in and out from an upper end opening. The plurality of canisters 3a, 3b are placed in the container body 2 to be adjacent to each other in a vertical direction and a circumferential direction. The canisters are detachably suspended at an upper end opening edge of the container body 2 by hangers 12a, 12b, respectively.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a container for cryopreserving a specimen such as a vitrified embryo such as a fertilized egg for in vitro fertilization with liquid nitrogen or the like, and in particular, the specimen stored in the container can have a larger storage capacity than the existing one. It relates to a technique that can be processed safely and reliably.

  Conventionally, as a container for cryopreserving the specimen as described above, for example, a container disclosed in Patent Document 1 is known.

  However, in the conventional cryopreservation container, the canisters stored in the container are all of the same size, and can be stored only in the height direction of the container when stored. In order to prevent the specimen storage tubes stored in the canister as described above from being accidentally lifted when submerged in liquid nitrogen or the like, another empty tube is arranged on the tube storing the specimen. There is a limit to the number of samples that can be stored in the storage tube because it is necessary to hold the sample from above, that is, the sample can only be stored in the lower storage tube. Accordingly, there is a problem that a large number of specimens cannot be expected, and it is impossible to meet the industry demand for efficiently storing many specimens in one container.

Japanese Patent No. 4881046

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cryopreservation container that can accommodate more specimens than the conventional one, and a canister used therefor.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is capable of inserting and removing a plurality of canisters for storing specimens from the upper end opening of the container body used for freezing specimens such as vitrified embryos. A plurality of canisters are arranged adjacent to each other in the vertical direction and circumferential direction in the container body, and each canister can be attached to and detached from the upper opening edge of the container body by a hanger. It is provided by being suspended.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the canister has a bottomed cylindrical shape with an upper end opened, and a plurality of specimen storage tubes can be accommodated from the upper end opening. The hanger is extended and fixed in the axial direction. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect, the canisters are provided such that those adjacent in the vertical direction overlap in series, and those adjacent in the circumferential direction have the same height position. It is characterized by.

  A fourth aspect of the present invention is a canister used in the cryopreservation container according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the cross-sectional area and the axial length are equal, and the rod-shaped hanger The length of the lower canister is longer than that of the upper canister. The invention according to claim 5 is the canister according to claim 4, wherein an identification part for identifying which hanger is the lower canister or the upper canister is provided at the tip of both the hanger of the lower canister and the upper canister. It is provided.

  The present invention is as described above, and according to the invention described in claim 1, there is no need to arrange another empty tube on the sample storage tube unlike the conventional one, and the sample storage tube Since a plurality of canisters for storing a plurality of canisters are arranged in the vertical direction, a larger number of specimens can be stored as compared with the conventional one.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the canisters adjacent in the vertical direction can be suspended and stored by the hangers. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the canister can be stored in an orderly manner both in the vertical direction and in the circumferential direction.

  According to the fourth and fifth aspects of the invention, a canister suitable for a cryopreservation container that can accommodate a large number of specimens can be provided.

It is a vertical front view which shows the cryopreservation container which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a cross-sectional plan view which follows the II-II line | wire of FIG. (A) is an upper canister, and (B) is a drawing showing a lower canister. It is a perspective view which shows the state which integrated the upper canister and the lower canister.

  Hereinafter, a cryopreservation container according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 and 2, reference numeral 1 denotes a cryopreservation container. The cryopreservation container 1 has a heat insulating container main body 2 having a double wall so that a plurality of canisters 3 can be stored in the main body. It is configured.

  The container body 2 has a circular cross-sectional shape having a canister access port 5 that is opened and closed by a cap (not shown) attached to the upper end opening. The canister loading / unloading port 5 has a circular shape necessary and sufficient for loading / unloading the canister 3 having a circular cross section. The volume of the container body 2 is set according to the number of canisters 3 to be stored. In this example, the volume is set to be necessary and sufficient to store a total of twelve canisters 3, two in the vertical direction and six in the circumferential direction. A heat insulating material layer 7 is provided between the container body 2 and the peripheral wall 6.

  The cryopreservation container 1 is a liquid nitrogen storage container that is filled with liquid nitrogen as a refrigerant in a container body 2. When the canister 3 is stored in the container body 2, the liquid nitrogen is stored in a canister described later. It is possible to enter the canister 3 from the slot provided in 3 and store the sample in a sample storage tube, which will be described later, in a cold storage.

  Each canister 3 is composed of an upper canister 3a and a lower canister 3b which are paired up and down. As shown in FIG. 3A, the upper canister 3a includes a bottomed cylindrical canister main body 11a and a rod-shaped hanger 12a having a base end fixed to the upper end opening side of the main body and extending in the axial direction. A hanger hook 13a for hanging is provided at the tip of the hanger. Each of the hooks 13a is bent and integrally formed, and can be suspended from the opening edge of the canister loading / unloading port 5, a horizontal portion 14, a downwardly extending vertical portion 15, a horizontally extending horizontal portion 16, and an upwardly extending vertical portion. It consists of 17. The canister attached to the hanger 12a can be identified as the upper canister 3a by the bent portion of the hook 13a, particularly the upward vertical portion 17. That is, the vertical part 17 has a function as an identification part for identifying the address of the sample in the upper canister 3a.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the lower canister 3b includes a bottomed cylindrical canister main body 11b, and a rod-shaped hanger 12b extending in the axial direction with a base end fixed to the opening side of the main body. A hanger hook 13b for hanging is provided at the tip of the hanger. The canister body 11b has the same structure as the canister body 11a of the upper canister 3a. The length of the hanger 12b is about twice as long as the hanger 12a of the upper canister 3a. Each of the hooks 13b is bent and integrally formed, and a horizontal portion 20 positioned on the upper surface of the horizontal portion 16 of the upper canister 3a so as to be able to be suspended from the opening edge of the canister loading / unloading port 5, and a vertical portion 21 extending downward therefrom. It is made up of. The canister attached to the hanger 12b can be identified by the bent portion of the hook 13b, in particular the downward vertical portion 21, to be the lower canister 3b. That is, the vertical part 21 has a function as an identification part for identifying the address of the sample in the lower canister 3b, like the vertical part 17 of the upper canister 3a.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the upper and lower canisters 3a and 3b that are vertically adjacent to each other are orderly integrated with the hangers 12a and 12b snuggling and the hooks 13a and 13b adjacent to each other. It is hung and suspended by the opening edge of the canister slot 5.

  The vertical part 17 and the vertical part 21 as the identification part described above are only a preferable example, are not essential, may have other shapes and structures, or may be colored with different colors. .

  The bottom of each canister body 11a, 11b of the upper canister 3a and the lower canister 3b makes it possible to hold liquid nitrogen throughout the specimen storage and recovery process. The canister 3 can safely ventilate liquid nitrogen by keeping liquid nitrogen in the bottom three quarters of the canister bodies 11a and 11b while maintaining all samples except for samples collected for use. In this way, two slots (elongated small holes) are formed in three-quarters of the side surfaces of the canister bodies 11a and 11b, and the surrounding warming is always avoided during such a process.

  The canister 3 is an improved product of the existing one-stage canister. The canister 3 suspended and attached by the hanger 12 is a pair of upper and lower two-stages, and occupies the space of one existing one-stage canister in the container body 2, but is different from the existing one. Thus, twice the storage capacity is possible. That is, the storage container 1 for storing the canister 3 has the same height and the same diameter, but is stacked to store twice the capacity, so that the upper canister 3a and the lower canister 3b are stacked as described above. Then, the hangers 12a and 12b having different lengths are used.

  As shown in part in FIG. 2, a large number of sample storage tubes 25 are accommodated in the canister body. Although not shown in detail, the specimen storage tube 25 is composed of an aluminum stick and a resin translucent case such as a test tube. In the case, for example, a fertilized egg (embryo) fertilized by in vitro fertilization as a specimen can be stored.

  Therefore, according to the cryopreservation container 1 configured as described above, the specimen is stored in the specimen storage tube 25, and the specimen storage tube 25 is stored in the container main body 2 by the canister 3, so that the frozen specimen is stored. Can be well frozen and stored. For this reason, the specimen does not die. Further, since it is held by liquid nitrogen, there is no risk that liquid nitrogen leaks from the cryopreservation container 1 in the cryopreservation work or transport work of the specimen, and these work can be performed extremely safely.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described.
In order to cryopreserve the sample stored in the storage tube 25 using the canister 3 configured as described above, first, a large number of storage tubes 25 storing the sample are stored in the canister body. Next, the canister 3 containing the large number of specimen storage tubes 25 is placed in the container body 2 filled with liquid nitrogen, and the hanger hook 13 is hooked on the opening edge of the canister inlet / outlet 5 of the container body 2 to be locked. And suspended in the container body 2.

  For this storage, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper canister 3a and the lower canister 3b are previously placed in a pair of upper and lower canisters into the container body 2 through the canister loading / unloading port 5, and hooks 13a, 13b is hooked on the opening edge and suspended. And when one place is completed, it moves to the position adjacent to the circumferential direction, and a pair of upper and lower canisters 3 are suspended in the same procedure. In this example, a total of 12 canisters 3 can be suspended and stored in the container body 2. When the storage is completed, liquid nitrogen enters the canister body from the slot of the canister 3, and the specimen in the storage tube 25 is stored at the liquid nitrogen temperature.

  In order to take out the stored canister 3 from the inside of the container main body 2, the hanger hook 13 of an arbitrary or identifiable specific canister 3 is grasped and the canister 3 is lifted. The removal by the lifting and the storage by the insertion described above can be performed by using a removal gap (a range indicated by a dotted line in the figure) formed in the central portion of the container body 2 as apparent from FIG. it can. Therefore, even if the canister 3 is housed in two upper and lower stages, it can be smoothly taken in and out.

  In the above description, an example in which the canisters 3 are paired up and down at the time of storing or taking out has been described. Of course, only the necessary canisters can be individually stored or taken out.

  As described above, a plurality of upper canisters 3a and lower canisters 3b each containing a specimen can be stored in a pair in the upper and lower sides of the container body 2 and in the circumferential direction. The specimen storage tube 25 can be accommodated twice or more as compared with the above. Therefore, the number of specimens can be accommodated more than before, and the convenience is high.

  In the above-described embodiment, the example in which the canister 3 is a two-stage upper and lower canister 3a and lower canister 3b is shown. However, if necessary, the canister 3 may have two or more stages. Each canister 3 has a cylindrical shape. However, the canister 3 does not necessarily have a cylindrical shape, and may have a square cylindrical shape. If the present invention is within the scope of the claims, the detailed design etc. It goes without saying that changes and modifications can be made arbitrarily.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although vitrified embryos, such as a fertilized egg for in vitro fertilization, were mentioned as a specimen, it can utilize also about specimens other than an embryo. Furthermore, although liquid nitrogen was mentioned as a refrigerant | coolant to freeze, this is also an example and it cannot be overemphasized that another refrigerant | coolant may be utilized.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cryopreservation container 2 Container main body 3 Canister 3a Upper canister 3b Lower canister 5 Canister entrance / exit 7 Heat insulation material layer 11a, 11b Canister main body 12a, 12b Hanger 13a, 13b Hanger hook 25 Sample storage tube

Claims (5)

A cryopreservation container in which a plurality of specimen storage canisters are stored in a container body used for freezing specimens such as vitrified embryos so that a plurality of specimen storage canisters can be taken in and out from the upper end opening,
A plurality of the canisters are arranged adjacent to each other in the vertical direction and the circumferential direction in the container body, and each canister is detachably suspended from the upper end opening edge of the container body by a hanger. Cryopreservation container.   The canister has a bottomed cylindrical shape with an open upper end, and a plurality of specimen storage tubes can be accommodated from the upper end opening, and a hanging rod-shaped hanger extends in the axial direction and is fixed. The cryopreservation container according to 1.   The cryopreservation container according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the canisters are provided so that those adjacent in the vertical direction overlap in series, and those adjacent in the circumferential direction have the same height position.   The canister used for the cryopreservation container according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cross-sectional area and the axial length are equal, and the length of the rod-shaped hanger is the upper for the lower canister. Canister characterized by being longer than for canister.   5. The canister according to claim 4, wherein an identification part for identifying which hanger is the lower canister or the upper canister is provided at the tip of both hangers of the lower canister and the upper canister. Canister.

Images