JP6383625B2 - Embedding device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an embedding apparatus for embedding a sample such as a tissue piece in an embedding material such as paraffin.

  In order to use a tissue sample collected from a human body or the like as a microscopic specimen, the tissue sample collected is dehydrated with alcohol and then degreased by replacing the alcohol with xylene. Embed the pieces by infiltrating them with an embedding material such as paraffin. The embedded tissue piece is sliced with a microtome or the like to obtain a microscope specimen.

  When a tissue piece embedded with an embedding material is sliced with a microtome by a tissue piece processing apparatus, how to hold a soft tissue piece becomes a problem. In addition, since it is necessary to describe data such as when and from which part the tissue piece was collected, the tissue piece embedded with the embedding material is wrapped in the lower surface of the resin cassette. An embedding device that is integrally attached by a filling material is known (see Patent Document 1).

According to the embedding apparatus shown in Patent Document 1, the tissue piece embedded by the tissue piece processing apparatus is stored in the embedding dish, and a resin cassette is placed on the upper part of the embedding dish and melted from above. Dispense embedding material (molten paraffin). In this way, the tissue piece and the cassette in the embedding dish are integrally embedded by the embedding material.
In this way, the cassette can be held even when sliced with a microtome, and various data relating to the tissue piece can be described in the cassette.

However, in the embedding apparatus as in Patent Document 1 described above, a tissue piece is manually stored in an embedding dish, and an apparatus that automatically embeds all processes has been studied.
In the embedding device of Patent Document 2, consideration is given to automatically embedding the entire process, and a tissue piece in which an embedding material is osmotically embedded by a tissue piece processing device is formed of a soft resin. It is sandwiched between holding members and attached to the cassette. When a cassette with the tissue pieces stored therein is prepared in advance and set in the embedding device of Patent Document 2, the embedding device reads the data written in the cassette and embeds the corresponding size. Transfer the cassette to the top of the pan.

Then, the tissue piece is pushed into the embedding dish together with the holding member, and the embedding material is dispensed from above. In this way, the cassette and the tissue piece can be associated with each other in advance, and the embedding process for integrating the cassette and the tissue piece can be automated.
When the embedded tissue piece is sliced, the mesh-shaped holding member is first sliced.

Special table 2011-525633 gazette US Pat. No. 5,817,032

According to the embedding device described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, there has been a problem that bubbles are generated with respect to an object embedded by dispensing an embedding material.
The cause of this is that the embedding material around the tissue piece is adhered between the meshes of the holding member. It is thought that bubbles are generated in the gap between the embedded material.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an embedding device capable of preventing the generation of bubbles when an embedding material is dispensed into a tissue piece in a cassette. .

According to the embedding device according to the present invention, a cassette storage unit that stores a cassette on which a mesh-like holding member that stores a tissue piece embedded with an embedding material is stored, and a cassette from the cassette storage unit. A cassette carrying device that is taken out and carried to the next process, a hot air blowing unit that blows hot air against the cassette taken out from the cassette storage unit, and a cassette to which hot air is blown are carried by the cassette carrying device, An embedding dish to be placed, a pressing part for pressing the holding member from above the cassette placed on the embedding dish, and placing the holding member inside the embedding dish, and a holding member are arranged A dispensing device for dispensing an embedding material inside the embedding dish; and an embedding block storage portion for storing the embedding block produced by the pressing unit and the dispensing device. It is set to.
By adopting this configuration, the embedding material adhering to the holding member can be melted and blown away by hot air, and the embedding material clogged in the holding member can be eliminated. Since it flows smoothly throughout, the generation of bubbles can be prevented.

Moreover, the said hot air spraying part is good also as having a hot air injection apparatus arrange | positioned above a cassette, and the embedding material storage part arrange | positioned below the cassette.
According to this configuration, hot air can be blown from above, and the embedding material clogged in the holding member can be blown downward and stored in the embedding material storage section.

  Further, the hot air spraying part may be characterized by blowing hot air from a direction orthogonal to the surface of the holding member mounted on the cassette to melt and blow away the embedding material adhering to the holding member.

  According to the embedding device of the present invention, the generation of bubbles can be prevented.

It is a perspective view of the holding member and cassette which are used for the embedding apparatus of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing explaining the schematic processing flow of the embedding apparatus of this embodiment. It is explanatory drawing explaining the embedding block produced with the embedding apparatus. It is an external view of the embedding apparatus of this embodiment. It is an external view which shows the place which removed the cover of the hot air spraying part from the external view of FIG. It is a perspective view of a hot air spraying part. It is a production | generation circuit diagram of the compressed air supplied to the hot air injection apparatus of a hot air spraying part.

In the embedding apparatus of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, a holding member and a cassette are used.
The holding member 11 is made of a soft resin and is formed in a mesh shape. The holding member 11 includes a main body portion 11a in which a storage recess 12 in which a tissue piece is stored is formed, and a lid portion 11b that can be placed on the upper portion of the main body portion 11a. The holding member 11 has a thickness of about 1 mm or less and deforms very easily.

The holding member 11 storing the tissue piece is attached to the cassette 14. The cassette 14 is made of a resin that is harder than the holding member 11, and is a frame that has a square shape in plan view. A plurality of projections 15 for mounting the holding member 11 are formed on the inner wall surface of the cassette 14. By holding the peripheral edge of the holding member 11 between the protrusions 15, the holding member 11 holding the tissue piece can be mounted on the cassette 14.
In addition, the front surface 14a of the cassette 14 is an inclined surface, and data relating to the tissue piece is described here.

The operator stores the tissue piece to be embedded in the embedding apparatus of the present application in the holding member 11 and attaches the holding member 11 storing the tissue piece to the cassette 14. Then, the tissue pieces are dehydrated and degreased by the tissue piece processing apparatus together with the cassette 14 and embedded in an embedding material such as paraffin.
The tissue piece to be embedded by the embedding apparatus of the present application is embedded with the embedding material in such a state that it is stored in the holding member 11 previously mounted on the cassette 12 as described above.

FIG. 2 illustrates a processing flow of the embedding apparatus according to the present embodiment.
The embedding device 30 includes a cassette storage unit 32 in which a plurality of cassettes 14 each having a tissue piece mounted via the holding member 11 are stored, and data and cassettes described in one cassette 14 taken out from the cassette storage unit 32. The data reading unit 33 for reading the type of the sensor by the sensor 35, the hot air blowing unit 34 for blowing hot air to the holding member 11 of the cassette 14, and the embedding dish 36 on which the cassette 14 to which the hot air was blown are placed, were produced. An embedded block storage unit 39 that can store a plurality of embedded blocks (see FIG. 3) is provided. A plurality of embedding dishes 36 are provided so as to have different sizes.
A cassette transport device 48 (see FIG. 6) for moving the cassette among the cassette storage unit 32, the data reading unit 33, the hot air blowing unit 34, and the embedding plate 36 is provided.

  The type of the cassette is read by the sensor reading unit 33, and the cassette carrying device 48 is controlled so that the cassette 14 is placed on the embedding dish 36 having a size corresponding to the size of the read cassette.

The embedding dish 36 is provided with a pressing portion 38 that pushes the holding member 11 into the embedding dish 36 from above with respect to the cassette 14 placed on the embedding dish 36. The pressing part 38 pushes down the holding member 11 into the cassette 14 to store the tissue piece in the recess of the embedding dish 36.
Even in this state, the peripheral edge of the holding member 11 is sandwiched between the projections 15 inside the cassette 14, and the holding member 11 and the cassette 14 are integrated.

  Thereafter, the embedding material is dispensed into the embedding dish 36 by the embedding material dispensing device 40. In addition, in FIG. 2, although the press part 38 and the dispensing apparatus 40 are shown in figure separately, the operation | movement of a press and dispensing by one action is comprised by comprising the press part 38 and the dispensing apparatus 40 integrally. Yes.

  Further, the embedding dish 36 is provided with a heating device and a cooling device (not shown). Until the dispensing operation of the embedding material is completed, the embedding dish 36 is heated by the heating device, and the embedding operation can be reliably performed in a state where the embedding material is melted. Further, after the dispensing operation is completed, the embedding dish 36 is cooled by the cooling device, and the embedding material is hardened. Thereby, the completed embedding block can be easily taken out from the embedding dish 36.

The embedding block cooled in the embedding dish 36 is conveyed from the embedding dish 36 to the embedding block storage unit 39. Transport to the embedding block storage unit 39 is performed by a cassette transport device 48.
The embedded block stored in the embedded block storage unit 39 is taken out by the operator.

An embedding block produced by the embedding device 30 is shown in FIG.
In the embedding block 42, a tissue piece sandwiched between the holding members 11 is embedded in the lower part of the cassette 14 with an embedding material. Since the embedded tissue piece is integrated with the cassette 14 in this way, the side surface of the cassette 14 can be held when the tissue piece is sliced, so that the slice can be easily cut. In addition, management data relating to the tissue piece can be described in the cassette 14, and tracing can be easily performed.
When slicing such an embedding block 42, it is first necessary to slice the holding member 11 together with the embedding material.

4 to 5 show an external configuration of the embedding apparatus according to the present embodiment.
The embedding device 30 embeds the cassette 14 and the tissue piece with the embedding material in the cassette 14 on which the tissue piece as described above is mounted. As described above, the tissue piece itself has already been embedded by the tissue piece processing apparatus with the embedding material penetrating.

The cassette 14 to which the tissue piece held by the holding member 11 is attached is stored in the cassette storage unit 32 of the embedding device 30.
The cassette storage part 32 in this embodiment is arranged in front of the embedding device 30. The cassette housing part 32 can house a plurality of cassettes 14 by being pulled out to the front. Note that the internal configuration of the cassette housing portion 32 is not shown here.

A hot air blowing unit 34 for blowing hot air to the cassette 14 taken out from the cassette storage unit 32 is provided in the upper left portion when viewed from the front of the embedding device 30. In FIG. 5, the cover 31 is removed so that the hot air blowing portion 34 can be seen.
The data reading unit 33 is provided in the vicinity of the hot air blowing unit 34.

  Below the cassette housing part 32 and the hot air spraying part 34, there is provided an embedding block housing part 39 which has been produced and transported from the embedding dish 36. The operator can take out the embedded block produced by opening the embedded block storage unit 39.

FIG. 6 shows a hot air spraying part.
The hot air spraying part 34 has a hot air spraying device 44 arranged above the place where the cassette 14 is located, and an embedding material storage part 46 arranged below the place where the cassette 14 is located.

  Further, the cassette 14 is moved between the respective processes while its outer wall surface is held by the cassette carrying device 48. The cassette carrying device 48 of this embodiment has two arms 49, and sandwiches and holds the cassette 14 between the arms 49.

  The hot air injection device 44 is provided with a heater inside, and is provided so as to heat and inject downward compressed air generated by an air compressor described later. The hot air injection device 44 generates hot air of about 150 ° C. to 250 ° C. and injects it toward the holding member 11 for about 3 seconds.

  In the holding member 11 to which the hot air is blown, the embedding material adhering to the periphery of the tissue piece and entering the mesh gap is melted by the hot air and blown away. Thereby, since the mesh of the holding member 11 becomes a beautiful state, when the embedding material is dispensed in the embedding dish 36, the generation of bubbles can be prevented.

The embedding material blown off from the holding member 11 by hot air from above is dropped and stored in the embedding material storage section 46 disposed below the hot air injection device 44 with the cassette 14 interposed therebetween.
The embedding material reservoir 46 is box-shaped with an open top and is removable. The operator can discard the embedded material accumulated by removing the embedded material reservoir 46.

FIG. 7 shows a circuit for generating compressed air to be introduced into the hot air injection device.
The compressed air is generated by the air compressor 50 and stored in the air tank 52. The air tank 52 is a pressure vessel and can store a predetermined amount of compressed air. For this reason, the air compressor 50 does not need to be operated at all times, and may be operated when the compressed air in the air tank 52 runs out.

An air pipe 54 is connected between the air tank 52 and the hot air injection device 44, and a pressure gauge 55, an air filter 56, a regulator 57, and a blow valve 58 are provided in the air pipe 54. The blow valve 58 is provided with a bypass valve 59 in parallel.
A drain valve 60 is connected to the air tank 52 and the air filter 56 so that the drain can be discharged.

  As described above, since hot air is blown to the mesh-like holding member 11 holding the tissue piece before the cassette 14 is set on the embedding dish 36, air bubbles are not generated in the embedding block 42 to be produced. be able to. However, the hot air blowing direction is not limited to the downward direction from above. That is, in this embodiment, since the opening of the cassette 14 is arranged upward, a configuration in which hot air is blown from above to below is adopted, and the opening of the cassette 14 is parallel to the vertical plane. If it arrange | positions so that it may become, it should just blow a hot air toward a horizontal direction. That is, if hot air is blown from the direction orthogonal to the front surface (or back surface) of the holding member 11, it is considered that the embedding material can be efficiently blown away.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Holding member 11a Main body part 11b Cover part 12 Storage recessed part 14 Cassette 14a Front 15 of a cassette 15 Protrusion 30 Embedding device 31 Cover 32 Cassette storage part 33 Data reading part 34 Hot air spraying part 35 Sensor 36 Embedding dish 38 Pressing part 39 Embedding Block storage unit 40 Dispensing device 42 Embedding block 44 Hot air spray device 46 Embedding material storage unit 48 Cassette transfer device 49 Arm 50 Air compressor 52 Air tank 54 Air line 55 Pressure gauge 56 Air filter 57 Regulator 58 Blow valve 59 Bypass valve 60 Drain valve

Claims (3)

A cassette storage section for storing a cassette on which a mesh-like holding member for storing a tissue piece embedded by an embedding material is stored;
A cassette carrying device for taking out the cassette from the cassette housing and carrying it to the next process;
A hot air blowing unit that blows hot air on the cassette taken out of the cassette storage unit;
The cassette to which the hot air is blown is transported by the cassette transport device and is placed on the upper surface,
From above the cassette placed on the embedding dish, pressing the holding member to place the holding member inside the embedding dish, and
A dispensing device for dispensing the embedding material into the embedding dish in which the holding member is disposed;
An embedding device comprising: an embedding block storage portion for storing an embedding block that has been produced by the pressing portion and the dispensing device. The hot air spraying part is
A hot air jetting device disposed above the cassette;
The embedding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an embedding material storage section disposed below the cassette. The hot air spraying part is
The package according to claim 1 or 2, wherein hot air is blown from a direction orthogonal to the surface of the holding member mounted on the cassette to melt and blow away the embedding material adhering to the holding member. Burial equipment.

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