JPH01169362A - Biochemical analysis - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To always achieve an accurate analysis preventing deterioration in a test film, by drawing an unused portion of the test film back into a cold reserving storage after the end of a measurement in a biochemical analysis using a long sized test film. CONSTITUTION:A liquid to be inspected is spotted on a long-sized test film 3 with a spotting nozzle 7 transferring the test film 3 to a film winding cassette 19 from a film supply cassette 18 to perform an incubation with an incubator 55 and the degree of coloration is measured with a photometry section 57. When a standby time to the subsequently analysis is prolonged, as the test film 3 will be deteriorated outside a cold reserving storage 50, a motor 53B engaged with the film supply cassette 18 is driven to return a part 3b of the test film for use in the subsequent analysis when a specified time passes after the end of one analysis. This prevents deterioration in the test film.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) The present invention involves spotting a test liquid onto a long test film having one or more reagent layers, maintaining the temperature at a constant temperature (incubation) for a predetermined period of time, and It relates to a biochemical analysis method that measures the degree of coloration (degree of pigment formation) due to the reaction between a reagent and a test liquid during or after the process, and in particular, it is a biochemical analysis method that allows accurate measurements at all times. It is about the method.

(Prior Art) Qualitative or quantitative analysis of specific chemical components in a test liquid is a commonly performed operation in various industrial fields. In particular, quantitative analysis of chemical components or formed components in biological body fluids such as blood and urine is extremely important in the field of clinical biochemistry.

In recent years, dry type chemical analysis slides have been developed that can quantitatively analyze specific chemical components or formed components contained in a test liquid by simply applying small droplets of the test liquid ( Special Publication No. 53-21677, Japanese Patent Publication No. 55
-164358, etc.) has been put into practical use. Using these chemical analysis slides, it is possible to analyze sample liquids more easily and quickly than conventional wet analysis methods, so they are especially useful for medical institutions that need to analyze a large number of test liquids. This is preferable in research institutes, etc.

In order to analyze the chemical components in a test liquid using such a chemical analysis slide, the test liquid is placed on the chemical analysis slide in a measured amount and then placed in an incubator for a predetermined period of time. It is kept at constant temperature (incubation) to cause a color reaction (pigment formation reaction), and then a measurement irradiation light containing a wavelength selected in advance by the combination of the components in the test liquid and the reagent contained in the reagent layer of the chemical analysis slide is applied. is irradiated onto this chemical analysis slide and its reflected optical density is fl
llJ is determined, thereby performing quantitative analysis of the above chemical components, etc.

In this case, in the above-mentioned analysis at the medical institution, research institute, etc., it is necessary to analyze a large number of test liquids, and it is desirable to be able to perform this analysis automatically and continuously. For this reason, various proposals have been made regarding chemical analyzers that can automatically and continuously analyze test liquids using the above-mentioned chemical analysis slides (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-77748 issue). In addition, as a means of automatically and continuously analyzing the test liquid, a long tape-shaped test film containing a reagent is stored in place of the slide described above, and the test film is pulled out one by one. spotting, incubation,
Apparatus for making measurements have also been proposed (eg, US Pat. No. 3,526,480). In this way, a device that uses a long tape-shaped test film can reduce running costs compared to a device that uses chemical analysis slides, and also has a simple mechanism that allows it to measure a large number of test liquids in succession. can be done.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, a long test film is wound around a supply reel and loaded into an apparatus, but this film is affected by temperature or humidity, and its chemical properties may vary. Therefore, in order to prevent deterioration even after a long time has passed after being loaded into the equipment, we have installed a cold storage in the equipment that is kept at a low temperature and low humidity. A biochemical analyzer loaded with film has been proposed by the present applicant. When performing analysis, this long test film is pulled out from the cold storage to a predetermined spotting position by a test film conveying means, a test liquid is spotted, and then incubation and measurement are performed. Therefore, when a plurality of test liquids are continuously analyzed using this film, the film is sequentially pulled out by the length necessary for one analysis immediately before each test liquid is spotted.

However, when analyzing multiple test liquids while feeding a long test film as described above, since the film exit of the cold storage box and the spotting position are some distance apart, the film used for the next analysis is A part of the film goes out of the cold storage, and this part of the film is no longer kept in a low temperature, low humidity environment like the film stored in the cold storage. Therefore, if the analysis is interrupted and the time elapses until the next test liquid is applied, the part of the film outside the cold storage and the surrounding area will deteriorate, making it difficult to perform accurate Ul determination. The problem is that it becomes impossible to do so.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and is intended to ensure accurate measurement at all times even when the time interval between analyzes becomes long when performing analysis using a biochemical analyzer using the long test film described above. The purpose of this invention is to provide a biochemical analysis method that can be performed.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The biochemical analysis method of the present invention is characterized in that after the previous measurement is completed, a portion of the long test film that is located upstream of the portion used in the previous analysis in the drawing direction of the film is Pull back the film so that almost all of the film is located in the cold storage, and before performing the next spotting, pull out the long test film by at least the sum of the pulled back length and the length used for one analysis, and place it in the cold storage. The feature is that the film portion that was placed in the area is placed in the spotting position.

Note that the inside of the cold storage includes the location of the wall soil of the cold storage.

(Function) According to this method, if a long test film is left in the state where the previous measurement was completed and the part of the film that will be used for the next analysis is expected to deteriorate, it can be stored in a cold storage. Since the unused portion is returned to the inside of the refrigerator, there is no risk of the film deteriorating even if the waiting time for the next spotting is long. Measurements can be taken.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus for implementing the biochemical analysis method of the present invention.

The illustrated biochemical analyzer 1 is equipped with a transparent lid 2, and when the lid 2 is opened, the test liquid described below, a long test film 3 in the form of a long tape, etc. are inserted into the device 1. It is adapted to contain and retrieve. This device 1 includes
For example, a test liquid storage means 4 is provided for storing test liquids such as serum and urine in a circular arrangement, and the test liquid stored here is taken out by a spotting means 5 as described later. It will be spotted. The long test film 3 is made of multiple types of long films corresponding to measurement items, such as containing a reagent that exhibits a color reaction with only the specific chemical component or tangible component to be measured in the test liquid. Test film 3 is prepared. The unused portion of the long test film 3 is wound in a film supply cassette 18, and the portion used for the above measurement is wound in a film winding cassette 19. Also, the glue inside these cassettes 18 and 19 is
The center portions of the rolls 18a and 19a are used for pulling out the long test film 3 from the film supply cassette 18 and for rewinding it into the film supply cassette 18 after storing the long test film 3 in the apparatus 1, as described later. Holes 18b and 19b are provided to engage with the rotating shaft of the motor. The long test film 3 is stored in the apparatus 1 while being wound around the cassette L8.19. The film supply cassette 18 and the film take-up cassette 19 are separated as shown in this figure.

The test film storage means 6 is constructed so that unused portions of a plurality of long test films 3 can be stored in parallel so that a plurality of items can be measured simultaneously using this device 1.

The spotting means 5 has a spotting nozzle 7 at its tip, is moved in the direction in which the rail 8 extends by a moving means 9 placed on the rail 8, takes out the test liquid from the test liquid storage means 4, It is spotted onto the long test film 3 pulled out from the test film storage means 6 as will be described later.

The moving means 9 is also configured to move the spotting means 5 in the vertical direction, and when the moving means 9 moves the spotting means 5 in the left and right direction in which the rail 8 extends, the spotting means 5 is moved vertically. The means is in an elevated position, and is lowered when taking out the liquid to be tested, spotting it, and cleaning as described later.

After spotting on the test film, the spotting nozzle 7 is placed between the test film storage means 6 and the test liquid storage means 4.
It is cleaned by a nozzle cleaning section 10 arranged close to both of them, and is reused for the next spotting.

The spotted test film is incubated in an incubator as described below, and measured by a photometric means.

Control of the overall operation of the device 1, processing of constant data, etc. are performed by the circuit section 11 and the computer 1 connected to this circuit section 11.
2. The operation/display section 13 provided on the front side of the circuit section 11 is equipped with a power switch for the device 1, an ammeter for monitoring the current consumption in the device 1, and the like. The computer 12 includes a keyboard 14 for giving instructions to the device 1, a CRT display 15 for displaying auxiliary information for instructions, measurement results, etc., a printer 16 for printing out measurement results, and a computer for giving various instructions to the device 1. Floppy disk device 1 that accommodates a floppy disk for storing commands, measurement result data, etc.
7 is provided.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the main parts of the biochemical analyzer 1 whose perspective view is shown in FIG.

The test film accommodating means 6 is configured such that the spotting positions 22 of all the test films pulled out from therein are arranged in a straight line, and furthermore, the nozzle cleaning section 10 and the test liquid accommodating means are located on this straight line. The test liquid extraction positions 4b in the test liquid take-out positions 4b are arranged in an array.

The test liquid accommodating means 4 is configured to accommodate a plurality of test liquids in a substantially circularly arranged storage section 4a. In addition, this test liquid storage means 4 has a configuration in which a storage portion 4a arranged in a roughly circular shape is rotated.
Among the test liquids stored in the test liquid, the test liquid to be used for the next measurement is automatically rotated by a rotating means (not shown) so that the test liquid to be used for the next measurement is located at the take-out position 4b. In order to prevent deterioration due to evaporation of the test liquid stored in the storage part 4a, the extraction position 4 is
A lid (not shown) is placed over the accommodating portions 4a other than b.

The spotting means 5 is moved in the direction in which the rail extends by a moving means 9 mounted on the rail 8, takes out the liquid to be tested from the take-out position 4b, and spots it on the spotting position 22 on the long test film.

FIG. 3 shows a main part of a cross section taken along line xx' in FIG. 2.

The long test film 3 is placed in a film supply cassette 1.
8 and the film winding cassette 19,
loaded into the device. The film supply cassette 18 is housed in a cold storage 50 whose interior is temperature-controlled at, for example, 4° C., and the film winding cassette 19 is housed in a winding chamber 51. If the unused portion of the long test film 3 is stored in the film supply cassette 18 in this manner, the unused long test film 3 can be stored in the cold storage 50 without being touched. The cold storage 50 has a cold storage wall 50a using a heat insulating material.
On one side of this cold storage wall 50a, there is a cold storage 5o.
A cooling/dehumidifying device 58 is attached to keep the inside at a predetermined low temperature and low humidity, and a fan 60 circulates the air inside the cold storage 50.

When the film supply cassette 18 and the film winding cassette 19 are housed in the cold storage 50 and the winding chamber 51, respectively, as described above, the film inside the film winding cassette 19 is
A rotating shaft of a winding motor 53A, which is a conveyance means for the long test film 3 provided in this winding chamber 51, is engaged with a hole 19b provided in the center of the winding chamber 51.
3A, the long test film 3 is pulled out from the film supply cassette 18 via the drawer opening 50b of the cold storage 50, and wound into the film winding cassette 19. On the other hand, the reel 1fia of the film supply cassette 1B
A rotating shaft of a motor 53B for rewinding the film engages with the hole 18b provided in the center of the film, as will be described later.

If the used portion of the long test film 3 is stored in the film winding cassette 19 as described above,
The used film, which has been spotted with the liquid to be tested and becomes dirty, can be taken out from the device 1 and disposed of, etc., without touching it. Regarding this disposal, instead of winding the used film in the film winding cassette 19, the film winding cassette 19 is eliminated, and the film can be freely installed and removed from the device 1 that stores the film in the winding chamber 51. A cutter for cutting the used film is placed near the entrance of the winding chamber 51, and the used film is cut and stored in the box. It may be possible to take out the entire box from the device 1 without touching the film and dispose of the used film. In this case, the test film may be transported by providing transport rollers that grip and transport the test film.

Film supply cassette 18 and film winding cassette 19
An incubator 55 is arranged in the exposed part of the long test film 3 in between, and the long test film 3 and the liquid to be tested are placed inside the incubator 55, which can hold the film inside and allow it to pass through it one after another. A photometric unit 57 is arranged to determine the optical density due to a color reaction with n+.

As described above, the long test film 3 is intermittently pulled out from the cold storage 50 by the rotation of the motor 53, and is intermittently fed to the left in the figure, and when the film 3 is fed, the top lid 55a of the incubator 55 is It rises in the direction of arrow A.

When the long test film 3 is moved, the upper lid 55a descends in the direction of arrow B and pushes the long test film 3. Next, the shutter 54 that was blocking the nozzle insertion hole 55b of the upper lid 55a moves to the right in the figure, and then the nozzle 7 descends as shown in the figure and is applied onto the long test film 3 through the nozzle insertion hole 55b. The liquid is applied. Furthermore, the shutter 54 moves to the left to open the nozzle insertion hole 55b.
The inside of the incubator is kept at a predetermined temperature (for example, 3
Keep at 7℃). The part of the film on which the test liquid has been applied and developed (the part shown with diagonal lines in FIG. 3) is kept in the incubator 55 for a predetermined period of time (for example, 4 minutes).
Maintained at constant temperature. After or during this incubation, the photometric section 57 measures the optical density of the portion of the long test film 3 where the spotting has been performed. This concentration measurement is performed by emitting light from the light irradiation means 57a.
This is performed by irradiating the film 3 with light containing a preselected wavelength and detecting the reflected light from the film 3 with the photodetector 57b.

When the spotting, incubation, and measurement of one liquid to be tested are completed in this way, the next liquid to be tested can be spotted. The long test film 3 remains in the incubator even after the above-mentioned measurement is completed, so that the part of the film to be used for the next analysis is placed at the spotting position immediately before the spotting for the next analysis. will be transferred to.

By the way, the incubator 55 and the spotting position (nozzle 7) of the long test film 3 when the above-mentioned analysis is completed.
, and the positional relationship with the cold storage 50 as shown in FIG. 4(a). The part 3a of the long test film 3 is the part where the liquid to be tested is spotted and spread and the measurement has been completed, and the part 3b is the part where the liquid to be tested will be spotted and spread as the film 3 is transferred. It is. In this case, the length of the film 3 required for -times of analysis is as follows. Figure 4 (a
), there is a certain distance between the film drawer position of the cold storage 50 and the spotting position, and part of the film portion 3b to be used for the next analysis comes out of the cold storage 50. In particular, in the above device, since there is a gap 59 between the cold storage box 50 and the incubator 55, it becomes particularly difficult to maintain the portion of the film located within this gap at a desired temperature and humidity state.

If there are a large number of liquids to be tested and these liquids to be tested are to be analyzed continuously, the waiting time for each portion 3b outside the cold storage 50 will be approximately 4 minutes (that is, the time required for incubation). Although there is no practical problem, if the waiting time until the next analysis is long, the film will deteriorate from the portion exposed in the gap 59, making it impossible to perform accurate measurements. Therefore, in the present biochemical analysis method, after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after one analysis is completed, the motor 53 engaged with the film supply cassette 18 is
B is driven to rotate the reel 18a in the clockwise direction, and the portion 3b of the film to be used for the next analysis is transferred to the cold storage 5.
It is designed to return to within 0. The setting of the above-mentioned predetermined time and the amount of return of the film can be arbitrarily determined depending on the structure of the apparatus and the usage environment. As shown in b), the film 3 is rewound by the length 2. Note that this rewinding instruction may be given manually from the outside, or may be given automatically by providing a timer within the device. If the film is returned by the length in this way, the portion 3b to be used for the next analysis will be 2
Since the product will not be left outside the refrigerator for more than an hour, there is no risk of deterioration that would cause a practical problem in this part. Also, when performing the next analysis, please refer to Figure 4(c).
As shown in , the motor 53A is controlled to pull out the long test film 3 by a length equal to the returned length plus the length used for the next analysis, that is, 2 minutes. Since the portion 3b placed at the spotting position in this way was in the cold storage 50 until just before, accurate analysis can be performed using this portion. It goes without saying that the set time of 2 hours may be changed as appropriate depending on the type of film. Furthermore, if the waiting time becomes even longer even after the film is rewound, the above-mentioned deterioration may extend to the part of the film on the cold storage wall 50a (see Figure 3). The length of the film is 2
It is sufficient to pull out the film a little more than the original length and send the deteriorated portion to the downstream side of the film drawing direction of the spotting position. Furthermore, the amount of unwinding of the film does not necessarily have to be based on the length; for example, if it is undesirable for the test liquid to be spotted or the unfolded portion 3a to enter inside the drawer opening of the cool box 50, 9J/ It may be about 2. Furthermore, the larger the distance between the drawer opening of the cold box and the drop-off position, the larger the amount of rewinding needs to be.

Furthermore, if analyzes are performed somewhat frequently during the day, instead of determining a predetermined set time for rewinding the film as described above, it is possible to rewind a predetermined amount of film at the end of the day's use of the device. Alternatively, if the interval between uses of the device cannot be predicted, the film may be rewound to the inner chamber after one analysis.

(Effect of the invention) As explained above, according to the biochemical analysis method of the present invention,
Since the unused portion of the long test film is pulled back into the cold storage as needed to prevent the unused portion from deteriorating, accurate analysis can always be performed using a test film that does not deteriorate.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus for implementing the biochemical analysis method of the present invention, Figure 2 is a plan view of the main parts of the apparatus, and Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line xx' in Figure 2. A schematic diagram showing the main parts, and FIGS. 4(a), 4(b), and 4(c) are plan views of the long test film. 3... Long test film 7... Nozzle 50...
・Cold storage 53A, 53B...Motor 55...Incubator 57...Photometering section 59
... Gap Diagram 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] A long test film containing a reagent that reacts with the test liquid to cause a change in optical density is stored in a cold storage, and this long test film is pulled out from the cold storage to a predetermined spotting position. The liquid to be tested is spotted on this long test film, and the spotted part of the long test film is held at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time in an incubator, and then light is irradiated onto this part to induce the reaction. A biochemical analysis method for measuring optical density according to the present invention, wherein after the end of the measurement, almost all of the part of the long test film upstream of the part in the direction in which the film is pulled out is located in the cold storage. The long test film was pulled back, and before the next spotting, the long test film was pulled out by at least the sum of the pulled back length and the length used for one analysis, and was placed in the cold storage. A biochemical analysis method characterized in that a film portion is placed at the spotting position.