JPH0213962Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an automatic chemical analyzer, and particularly to an automatic chemical analyzer that can improve analysis accuracy.

In an automatic chemical analyzer, a sample and a reagent according to an analysis item are mixed and reacted to perform an analysis on a predetermined item. This analysis method includes the end-of-reaction analysis method, which measures the absorbance of the reaction solution after the reaction has finished, and the reaction rate, which is determined by measuring the absorbance while the reaction is progressing. , a reaction rate analysis method that analyzes the amount of a specific enzyme is used.

The present invention uses the latter analysis method mentioned above, that is,
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic chemical analyzer with high analysis accuracy, which is optimal for performing a method of measuring the amount of a specific enzyme from the reaction rate of a reaction solution.

An automatic chemical analyzer based on the present invention includes a means for transporting a reaction tube, a means for supplying a reagent to the reaction tube that causes a color reaction with an analyte at a specific position of the reaction tube, and a means for supplying a reagent to the reaction tube that causes a color reaction with an analyte at a specific position of the reaction tube, and a different first and second optical measuring means each having a light source and a detector for irradiating light onto a reaction tube at a position and measuring absorption of light by a liquid in the reaction tube; means for integrating the change in intensity of the detection signal within a predetermined short time to obtain two types of signals corresponding to the slope of the change in absorbance within the short time; The system is configured to analyze target items.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In Figure 1, 1 is, for example,
A rotary reactor as shown in No. 34079,
The reactor 1 has a rotating body 2 rotated by a rotational drive mechanism, and a large number of reaction tubes 3 are arranged at equal intervals on the rotating body 2. The reaction tube 3 is transferred to different processing positions by the rotation of the rotating body 2, and various treatments are performed thereon. Position A of the reaction tube 3
B is the position where the sample specimen is supplied to the reaction tube together with the first reagent, and B is the position where the second reagent is supplied. The position C immediately before the second reagent supply position B is the first absorbance measurement position, and therefore the light source 4 for irradiating light onto the reaction tube being transferred and the light transmitted through the reaction tube are detected. A detector 5 is arranged. A condensing lens 6 and an interference filter 7 are provided between the light source 4 and the reaction tube 3, and the filter is configured so that various filters can be selected and placed on the optical path. The wavelength of the light to be analyzed can be changed arbitrarily depending on the item to be analyzed. a position D following the supply position B of the second reagent;
E are the second and third absorbance measurement positions, respectively;
At positions D and E, light sources 8 and 9, detectors 10,
11, condensing lens 12, 13, interference filter 1
4 and 15 are arranged. The output signals of the second and third detectors 10 and 11 are switched by switches S ₁ and S ₂ and supplied to integrators 16 and 17 or data processing device 18, respectively, and the output signals of the integrators are Each output signal is fed to a data processing device 18 together with the signal of the first detector 5.

In the configuration as described above, when a specific item in a sample is analyzed by the reaction rate method, the first reagent and the sample sample are introduced into the reaction tube at position A, and further,
At position B a second reagent is introduced into the reaction tube. At this time, light is irradiated through the reaction tube at position C, and the absorbance of the mixed liquid of the first reagent and sample is measured, but this measurement result is not used in measuring the reaction rate. . Also, switch S ₁ ,
S ₂ is switched so that the signals from each detector are fed to integrators 16 and 17. By supplying the second reagent, the specimen and the second reagent start a coloring reaction,
The first absorbance is measured at position D after a predetermined time has elapsed since the second reagent was supplied. the measurement is carried out for a short period of time, e.g. a few seconds;
The detection signal during this period is supplied to the integrator 16. As shown in FIG. 2, the integrator 16 integrates the amount of change in the signal that changes during the measurement time t from T ₁ to T ₂ and supplies the integrated value to the data processing device 18 . The integral value becomes large when the amount of change in the signal is large, that is, when the reaction rate is fast, and conversely becomes small when the reaction rate is slow, and its value is proportional to the reaction rate. Thereafter, as the rotating body 2 rotates, the reaction tube whose absorbance was measured at position D is transferred to position E, and the absorbance of the reaction liquid is measured in the same manner as at position D. The absorbance measurement is performed in the same manner as described above, and is performed during the time t from time T ₃ to T ₄ as shown in FIG. The signal is provided to a data processing device 18. The data processing device 18 calculates the average value of both signals and uses that value as the analysis value of the target item in the sample. Therefore, not only the measurement time is doubled, but also a signal corresponding to the change in absorbance between time T ₁ and time T ₄ can be obtained, thereby making it possible to improve measurement accuracy. Incidentally, the absorbance can be measured instantaneously at time T ₁ and time T ₄ , respectively, and the slope of the change in absorbance can be measured from the two kinds of absorbance, but since such a method is based on measurement at two points,
If noise gets mixed into either one of the detection signals,
The resulting slope signal will be inaccurate.
In addition, another measurement method using the above-mentioned configuration is as follows.
The two types of signals are compared with a reference value set in advance for each measurement item, and if the signal value is far from the reference value, it is removed as an error signal of some kind, and only one signal value is analyzed. If it is a value, accurate analysis can be performed without the influence of noise.

In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, when measuring the absorbance after the reaction is completed and analyzing a specific item in the sample using the end-of-reaction analysis method, the sample is introduced at position A,
Reagents for carrying out a color reaction at position B are supplied;
For example, at position E, the absorbance of the reaction solution after the reaction is completed is measured. At this time, switch _S2 is switched,
The signal from the detector 11 is supplied to the data processing device 18 without passing through the integrator 17. In this apparatus, a difference signal between the signal from the detector 11 and the signal from the detector 5 is obtained, and the difference signal is used as the absorbance at the end of the reaction. When the sample is serum, the signal from the detector 5 indicates the absorbance due to hemolysis, jaundice, etc., so the above-mentioned difference signal indicates the absorbance due to reactions that are not affected by hemolysis, jaundice, etc. It becomes possible to perform accurate measurements.

FIG. 3 shows the reaction tube 3, light source 8, and
This figure shows the relationship among the lens 12, filter 14, and detector 10. In this figure, the optical measurement system at position D is taken as an example, but the other positions C and E are also similar optical systems. The interference filter 14
The light of a specific wavelength that has passed through is split into two beams by the half mirror 20, one of which passes through the reaction tube 3 and is directed to the reaction tube side detector 10a, and the other to the reference detector 10b. Both detectors 10a, 10
The detection signal b is supplied to the correction circuit 21, and the signal from the detector 10a is corrected by the signal from the detector 10b and supplied to the integrator 16. With this configuration, even if the light source is unstable, the signal from the detector 10a on the reaction tube side can be substantially corrected by the signal from the detector 10b in accordance with fluctuations in the amount of light. This eliminates the effects of light source instability and allows for more accurate measurements.
In addition, in the past, it was not possible to perform measurement until the light source became stable when the device was started, but in this embodiment, the signal from the reference detector 10b is used as the correction signal, so the device cannot be measured. Measurements can be taken immediately even after startup.

As detailed above, the present invention provides an automatic chemical analyzer with high measurement accuracy. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified in many ways. For example, light from a light source is irradiated onto a reaction tube through an interference filter, but it is also possible to irradiate a reaction tube with white light, separate the light that passes through the reaction tube, and detect light of a specific wavelength. It may be configured as follows. Furthermore, although the reaction tubes are rotated and transferred to each position, a configuration may be adopted in which a large number of reaction tubes are transferred linearly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a detection signal, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing details of the optical system for absorbance measurement used in FIG. 1. 2: rotating body, 3: reaction tube, 4, 8, 9: light source,
5, 10, 11: detector, 7, 14, 15: interference filter, 16, 17: integrator, 8: data processing device.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. A means for transporting a reaction tube, a means for supplying a reagent that causes a color reaction with a specimen at a specific position of the reaction tube, and a different method following the reagent supply position. irradiate the reaction tube with light at the position,
first and second optical measuring means each having a light source and a detector for measuring absorption of light by the liquid in the reaction tube; and determining an amount of change in intensity of a detection signal from each detector. Integrate over a short period of time,
An automatic chemical analyzer comprising: means for obtaining two types of signals according to the slope of absorbance change within the short period of time, and configured to analyze a target item in a sample based on the two types of signals. 2. The automatic chemical analyzer according to claim 1, which analyzes a specific item in the sample by obtaining an average value of two types of signals corresponding to the slope of the change in absorbance. 3 The light from the light source is separated into two beams, one of which is irradiated onto the reaction tube and used to measure the absorbance of the reaction solution, and the other is guided to a reference detector, and the measured value of the absorbance is used for the reference. An automatic chemical analyzer according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the automatic chemical analyzer is corrected by a signal from a detector.