JP5962789B1 - Mounting rack for culture container kit - Google Patents

Abstract

An attachment rack for easily and correctly attaching a culture container kit to a cell culture apparatus is provided. A culture container kit in which culture containers 1, 1 a, 1 b and medium supply containers 2, 2 a are connected via a tube 5 is used to arrange the cell culture apparatus 10 on the upper and lower trays 11, 12. The upper rack member 21 having the upper surface 21c on which the culture vessel is placed, the lower plate member 22 having the upper surface 22c on which the culture medium supply container is placed, the upper plate member 21 and the lower plate. A rear plate member 23 for connecting the plate member 22 and a hook 26 for attaching the mounting rack 20 to the cell culture device are provided, and between the front edge 21a of the upper plate member 21 and the front edge 22a of the lower plate member 22 Is open. [Selection] Figure 8

Description

  The present invention relates to a mounting rack for a culture container kit. More specifically, the present invention relates to a cell culture apparatus for culturing cells, tissues, microorganisms and the like in an artificial environment, and includes a culture container and a medium supply container. The present invention relates to a rack for mounting a container kit.

  In recent years, in the fields of pharmaceutical production, gene therapy, regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, and the like, it is required to efficiently culture a large amount of cells and tissues in an artificial environment. In such cell culture, a culture container kit in which a culture container for use in cell culture and a medium supply container for supplying a medium to the culture container are connected via a tube is used. Since such a culture container kit performs cell culture in a closed system, cells can be proliferated while avoiding the risk of contamination.

  As shown in Patent Document 1, a cell culture apparatus often has one or a plurality of culture unit units, and cell culture is performed by attaching a culture container kit to each culture unit unit. At that time, the culture medium supply container is placed in a cold storage room because it needs to be refrigerated, while the culture container is placed in a temperature-controlled room (incubator) because control of temperature, gas environment, and the like is necessary. Therefore, the culture unit section is multistage, and the culture container kit may be arranged three-dimensionally in each culture unit section.

International Publication No. 2007/052716 Pamphlet

  The culture container kit is usually assembled in a clean bench in which a culture solution (hereinafter referred to as containing cells and medium) is enclosed in a culture container, the culture container and the medium supply container are connected by a tube, and then assembled. It is attached to the multi-stage tray of the culture unit part of the cell culture device.

  By the way, since the bag-shaped culture container and culture medium supply container which comprise a culture container kit are formed by bag-making of flexible materials like a resin film, they are easy to deform | transform when attaching to a cell culture apparatus. In addition, as the number of culture containers and medium supply containers constituting the culture container kit increases, the connection relationship of the tubes between these containers becomes more complicated.

  For this reason, when each container of the culture container kit is three-dimensionally arranged on each tray of the culture unit unit, not only the arrangement relationship of each container but also the top and bottom of the container is not inverted and the tube is not twisted. Need to be careful. For this reason, the operation | work which arrange | positions a culture container kit to a culture | cultivation unit part three-dimensionally became very complicated. In addition, when the culture vessel containing the culture solution is attached, the vessel is deformed, so that there is a problem that the culture solution flows excessively and the cells are seriously damaged.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an attachment rack for easily and correctly attaching a culture container kit to a culture unit portion of a cell culture apparatus.

  In order to achieve the above object, the mounting rack of the culture container kit of the present invention comprises a culture container in which a plurality of bag-shaped culture containers and one or more bag-shaped culture medium supply containers are connected via a tube. A mounting rack used to place the kit on the upper and lower trays of the multi-stage culture unit of the cell culture apparatus, and includes an upper plate member having an upper surface on which the culture vessel is placed, and a medium supply container A lower plate member having an upper surface placed thereon, a connecting member for connecting the upper plate member and the lower plate member, and an attachment member for attaching an attachment rack to the cell culture device, and a front edge of the upper plate member; It is characterized by opening between the front edge of the lower plate member.

  If the mounting rack of this invention is used, the three-dimensional arrangement | positioning similar to the three-dimensional arrangement | positioning of each container and tube of the culture container kit in the state attached to the cell culture apparatus can be reproduced on a mounting rack beforehand. The culture container kit can be easily and reliably attached to the cell culture apparatus by transferring the culture container kit to the cell culture apparatus while maintaining this three-dimensional arrangement. Moreover, since it can attach without deform | transforming the container shape of the culture container containing a cell, the excessive flow of a culture solution can be prevented and the damage to a cell can be reduced.

It is a side view which shows typically the three-dimensional arrangement | positioning of the culture container kit attached to the culture | cultivation unit part of a cell culture apparatus using the mounting rack of this invention. It is a top view which shows typically the three-dimensional arrangement | positioning of the culture container kit shown in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the culture container kit arrange | positioned at the upper-lower tray pulled out of the culture unit part of the cell culture apparatus. It is a front view of the culture unit part of the cell culture apparatus which closed the upper and lower trays and completed the attachment of the culture container kit. (A) And (b) is a perspective view of the mounting rack which concerns on embodiment of this invention. (A) And (b) is a perspective view of the mounting rack which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view of the mounting rack which concerns on embodiment of this invention with which the culture container kit was mounted. It is explanatory drawing which shows the attachment rack which concerns on embodiment of this invention attached to the cell culture apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
Here, prior to the description of the mounting rack according to the embodiment of the present invention, a culture container kit that is attached to the cell culture apparatus using this mounting rack will be briefly described.

[Culture container kit]
1 and 2 schematically show the three-dimensional arrangement of the culture container kit. In FIG. 2, the upper and lower trays of the culture unit unit of the cell culture device 10 shown in FIG. 1 are not shown.
The culture container kit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes three bag-shaped culture containers 1, 1a and 1b formed of a flexible material, two bag-shaped medium supply containers 2 and 2a, and these containers. And a three-way cock 3, 3a and 3b provided at the branch of the tube 5. The tube pump 4 is provided in the culture unit unit of the cell culture device 10.

  The culture containers 1, 1a, and 1b are placed on an upper tray 11 that is stored in a temperature-controlled room (incubator) of the culture unit of the cell culture device because control of temperature, gas environment, and the like is necessary. On the other hand, since the medium supply containers 2 and 2a need to be refrigerated, they are placed on the lower tray 12 stored in the cold storage chamber of the culture unit section of the cell culture apparatus 10.

  At the time when the culture container kit is set in the cell culture device, only the culture container 1 is filled with a culture solution containing cells and a medium, and the remaining culture containers 1a and 1b are empty. The medium supply containers 2 and 2a are filled with a medium.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the culture vessels 1, 1a and 1b are arranged so as to be sequentially lowered. As a result, when the cell culture in the culture vessel 1 is completed, the three-way stopcocks 3 and 3a are operated, whereby the culture vessel 1 and the culture vessel 1a communicate with each other, and the culture solution is naturally sent from the culture vessel 1 to the culture vessel 1a. It is transferred by liquid. Further, when the cell culture in the culture vessel 1a is completed, the three-way stopcock 3a is operated to connect the culture vessel 1a and the culture vessel 1b, and the culture solution is transferred from the culture vessel 1a to the culture vessel 1b by natural feeding. Is done.

  Further, the three-way stopcocks 3, 3a and 3b can be operated to connect the medium supply container 2a and the culture container 1a, and the medium can be transferred from the medium supply container 2a to the culture container 1a by the tube pump 4. Furthermore, the three-way stopcocks 3, 3a, and 3b are operated so that the medium supply container 2 and the culture container 1b communicate with each other, and the medium can be transferred from the medium supply container 2 to the culture container 1b by the tube pump 4.

  The culture vessels 1, 1a and 1b are formed of a flexible material having oxygen and carbon dioxide permeability, such as a polyethylene resin. On the other hand, the culture medium supply containers 2 and 2a are formed of a flexible material having a gas barrier property against oxygen and carbon dioxide. The tube 5 is made of a flexible material such as silicone rubber and soft vinyl chloride resin.

[Installation of culture container kit]
3 and 4 show a culture container kit attached to the culture unit portion of the cell culture device 10.
As shown in FIG. 3, the culture container kit is three-dimensionally arranged on the upper and lower trays 11 and 12 drawn out of the culture unit portion of the cell culture device 10. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the tube 5 of the culture container kit is attached to the tube pump 4 of the culture unit portion of the cell culture device 10, and the three-way stopcocks 3, 3 a, and 3 b are culture cells of the cell culture device 10. It is attached to the stopcock control parts 6, 6a and 6b of the unit part. In FIG. 4, the medium supply containers 2 and 2 a are hidden behind the lid member 12 a of the lower tray 12.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 4, the culture container 1a is mounted on the base 15 so that it may be arrange | positioned in the position higher than the culture container 1b. Moreover, the culture container 1 is mounted on the base 14 so that it may be arrange | positioned in the position higher than the culture container 1a. The base 14 is used by being removed from the upper tray 11 and is composed of a pressing member 14a and a supporting member 14b (see FIG. 7), and the culture vessel 1 is sandwiched between the pressing member 14a and the supporting member 14b. . The base 14 is locked to the upper tray 11 by engaging a protruding member provided below the base 14 with an engagement structure such as a slit formed in the upper tray 11.

When the culture container kit is three-dimensionally arranged on the upper and lower trays 11 and 12 of the culture unit portion of the cell culture apparatus 10, not only the arrangement relationship of the containers but also the upper and lower sides of the containers are reversed or the tube 5 is twisted. It is necessary to be careful not to do. In particular, when the container is turned upside down or the tube is twisted, the tube is blocked or the length of the tube is insufficient. As a result, it may be difficult to correctly attach the three-way stopcocks 3, 3a, and 3b to the stopcock control units 6, 6a, and 6b, or it may be difficult to correctly attach the tube 5 to the tube pump 4. . For this reason, the operation | work which arrange | positions a culture container kit three-dimensionally to the culture unit part of a cell culture apparatus has become very complicated.
Therefore, in order to easily and reliably attach the culture container kit to the culture unit part of the cell culture apparatus, an attachment rack described below is used.

[Mounting rack]
5 and 6 show the mounting rack of this embodiment. Each figure is a perspective view of the mounting rack as seen from different directions.
The mounting rack 20 of the present embodiment includes an upper plate member 21, a lower plate member 22, a rear plate member 23 and a pillar 24 that connect the upper and lower plate members 21 and 22, and the mounting rack 20 to the cell culture device 10. In order to attach, it is comprised from the hook 26 protruded from the upper-stage board member 21 to the side.

The rear plate member 23 connects the rear edge 21 b of the upper plate member 21 and the rear edge 22 b of the lower plate member 22. Further, the pillar 24 also connects the upper plate member 21 and the lower plate member 22 with part of the side edges 21d and 22d. As a result, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, an opening is formed between the front edge 21 a of the upper plate member 21 and the front edge 22 a of the lower plate member 22. Further, the side edge 21 d of the upper plate member 21 and the side edge 22 d of the lower plate member 22 are also opened except for the pillar 24.
The pillar 24 may be omitted. Moreover, the side edges 21d and 22d on one side may be opened together with the space between the front edges 21a and 22a of the upper and lower plate members 21 and 22.

  Further, the upper plate member 21 is formed with an engagement structure for locking the base 14 on which the culture vessel 1 is disposed to the upper surface 21c. This engagement structure is slits 27 and 27a through which members projecting downward from the base 14 are inserted. The dimensions of the slits 27 and 27a are the same as at least a part of an engagement structure (not shown) formed on the upper tray 11 of the cell culture device 10 on which the base 14 is disposed.

  And the slits 27 and 27a are the base 14 on the upper tray 11 of the culture unit part of the cell culture apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 3, the culture vessel 1 attached to the base 14 and the remaining culture vessels 1a and 1b. Is provided at a position near the front edge 21a of the upper surface 21c so as to reproduce the relative arrangement relationship with the upper surface 21c of the upper plate member 21.

In addition, a clip 28 is provided on the upper surface 21c of the upper plate member 21 for sandwiching the remaining culture vessels 1a and 1b.
The rear plate member 23 is formed with an opening 23a into which a finger of a hand enters in order to hold the mounting rack. By placing a finger in the opening 23a of the rear plate member 23, holding the lower portion of the lower plate member 22 on the front edge 22a side, and holding the mounting rack 20, the mounting rack 20 can be easily placed with the culture vessel kit mounted thereon. Can be carried around.

  The upper plate member 21, the lower plate member 22, the rear plate member 23, and the pillar 24 are preferably formed of plastic resin such as acrylic resin or metal, and the hook 26 is formed of metal such as aluminum or stainless steel. It should be formed.

[Reproduction of the three-dimensional arrangement of the culture container kit on the mounting rack]
Prior to attaching the culture container kit to the cell culture apparatus 10 using the mounting rack 20, the three-dimensional arrangement similar to the three-dimensional arrangement of the culture container kit in the culture unit portion of the cell culture apparatus is the mounting rack. 20 is reproduced in advance.

  FIG. 7 shows the mounting rack 20 on which the culture container kit is placed. As shown in FIG. 7, the culture vessels 1, 1 a and 1 b are placed on the upper surface 21 c of the upper plate member 21. These culture containers 1, 1a and 1b are arranged in the same arrangement order as the arrangement order of the culture containers 1, 1a and 1b on the upper tray 11 of the cell culture apparatus 10 shown in FIG.

  Furthermore, the culture vessel 1 in which the culture solution is sealed is placed on the base 14 and the base 14 is locked to the slits 27 and 27a. Since the slits 27 and 27a are arranged near the front edge of the upper surface 21c of the upper plate member 21, the base 14 and the base on the upper tray 11 of the culture unit portion of the cell culture apparatus 10 shown in FIG. The relative positional relationship between the culture vessel 1 attached to the table 14 and the remaining culture vessels 1a and 1b can be easily reproduced on the upper surface 21c of the upper plate member 21.

  Further, since the remaining culture vessels 1a and 1b are empty when attached, they are placed on the upper surface 21c of the upper plate member 21 in a packed manner. The culture vessels 1a and 1b are also sandwiched by clips 28. Thereby, when carrying the mounting rack 20 which mounted the culture container kit, it can prevent that the empty culture containers 1a and 1b fall.

  On the upper surface 22c of the lower plate member 22, medium supply containers 2 and 2a filled with a medium are placed. These medium supply containers 2 and 2a are also arranged in the same arrangement order as the arrangement order of the medium supply containers 2 and 2a on the lower tray 12 of the cell culture device 10 shown in FIG.

Thus, if the mounting rack 20 of this embodiment is used, the three-dimensional arrangement similar to the three-dimensional arrangement of the culture container kit in the culture unit part of the cell culture apparatus 10 is reproduced on the mounting rack 20 in advance. be able to. Thereby, on the mounting rack 20, the presence or absence of the container upside down and the twist of the tube can be confirmed and corrected.
Then, the culture container kit in which the three-dimensional arrangement is correctly reproduced on the mounting rack 20 is transferred to the cell culture apparatus.

[Attaching the culture container kit to the cell culture device]
FIG. 8 shows an attachment rack 20 on which a culture container kit is mounted, which is attached to the cell culture apparatus 10. As shown in FIG. 8, the mounting rack 20 is attached to the cell culture device 10 by engaging the hook 26 with a long hole-shaped guide hole 13 a of the vertical member 13 fixed to the side of the cell culture device 10. It is done. At this time, the front edges 21a and 22a of the upper and lower plate members 21 and 22 are positioned in the vicinity of the side edges of the drawn upper and lower trays 11 and 12, and the distance between the upper and lower plate members 21 and 22 is as follows. It is preferable that the distance between the upper and lower trays 11 and 12 drawn out from the cell culture device 10 is equal.

  Then, the culture container kit is translated from the mounting rack 20 to the culture unit portion of the cell culture apparatus 10 while maintaining the three-dimensional arrangement. At that time, since there is no shielding between the front edge 21a of the upper plate member 21 and the front edge 22a of the lower plate member 22, the medium supply containers 2 and 2a can be taken in and out from the front edge 22a side of the lower plate member 22. It has become easy. In this way, as shown in FIG. 3, the culture container kit is three-dimensionally arranged on the upper tray 11 and the lower tray 12 of the culture unit portion of the cell culture device 10.

  Thus, if the mounting rack 20 of this embodiment is used, the three-dimensional arrangement similar to the three-dimensional arrangement of the culture container kit in the culture unit part of the cell culture apparatus 10 is reproduced on the mounting rack 20 in advance. be able to. Thereby, on the mounting rack 20, the presence or absence of the container upside down and the twist of the tube can be confirmed and corrected. A simple and accurate attachment can be realized by transferring a culture container kit correctly arranged in three dimensions without upside down or twisting of the tube to the culture unit of the cell culture apparatus.

  Furthermore, since the culture container 1 is set on the base 14 in advance on the mounting rack 20, the culture container 1 and the base 14 can be easily attached to the upper tray 11 of the cell culture apparatus 10. Thereby, since it can attach without changing the container shape of the culture | cultivation container 1 containing only the cell, it can prevent the excessive flow of a culture solution and can reduce damage to a cell. Simplification can be achieved.

  While the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the engagement structure for locking one base 14 is formed on the upper surface 21c of the upper plate member 21 of the mounting rack 20, but in the present invention, two engagement structures are provided on the upper surface 21c. You may form the engagement structure for latching the above base. Also in this case, it is preferable to arrange the engagement structure for each base so that the positional relationship between the base and other culture containers in the upper tray of the cell culture apparatus can be reproduced on the mounting rack. In the above-described embodiment, an example in which a culture container kit having three culture containers and two medium supply containers is attached has been described. However, the mounting rack of the present invention includes two or more culture containers and one culture container. It can also be used to attach a culture container kit having one or more medium supply containers.
In the above-described embodiment, the example of the mounting rack for attaching the culture container to the upper tray and attaching the culture medium supply container to the lower tray has been described. In the case of the culture container in the supply container and the lower tray, it can be used if the upper and lower plate members of the mounting rack are reversed.

  The present invention can be suitably used for regenerative medicine and antibody drug production using a cell culture unit.

1, 1a, 1b Culture vessel 2, 2a Medium supply vessel 3, 3a, 3b Three-way stopcock 4 Tube pump 5 Tube 6, 6a, 6b Stopcock control unit 10 Cell culture device 11 Upper tray 12 Lower tray 12a Lower tray lid member 13 Vertical member 13a Guide hole 14 Base 14a Press member 14b Support member 14c Projecting member 15 Base 20 Mounting rack 21 Upper plate member 21a Front edge of upper plate member 21b Rear edge of upper plate member 21c Upper surface of upper plate member 21d Upper stage Side edge of plate member 22 Lower plate member 22a Front edge of lower plate member 22b Rear edge of lower plate member 22c Upper surface of lower plate member 22d Side edge of lower plate member 23 Rear plate member 23a Opening 24 Pillar 26 Hook 27, 27a Slit 28 clips

Claims (5)

In order to place a culture container kit in which a plurality of bag-shaped culture containers and one or more medium supply containers in a bag shape are connected via a tube on the upper and lower trays of the multi-stage culture unit of the cell culture apparatus A mounting rack used for
An upper plate member having an upper surface on which the culture vessel is placed;
A lower plate member having an upper surface on which the medium supply container is placed;
A connecting member that connects the upper plate member and the lower plate member;
An attachment member for attaching the attachment rack to the cell culture device,
A mounting rack for a culture vessel kit, wherein a gap is formed between a front edge of the upper plate member and a front edge of the lower plate member. Mounting of the upper plate member, having an engagement structure for engaging the base on which one of the culture container is placed on the upper surface of the upper plate member, according to claim 1, the culture vessel kit rack. The engagement structure is configured so that a relative arrangement relationship between the base on the upper tray of the cell culture apparatus and the culture container attached to the base and the remaining culture containers is determined by the upper plate member. are provided at positions of reproducing in said upper surface, according to claim 2, mounting racks of the culture vessel kit. The engagement structure is a slit for inserting a member which projects downwardly from the base, according to claim 2 or 3, the mounting rack of the culture vessel kit. Said upper plate member, the upper surface of the said upper plate member, having a clamping means for clamping the culture vessel, according to claim 1, the mounting rack of the culture vessel kit.

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