JPH04234971A - Microutensil for micromanipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the title hard-to-break microutensil. CONSTITUTION:The objective microutensil for the purpose of treating microobjects in a micromanipulator is provided with a pipette as the main body 21 and a protective member 22 for this body 21. Specifically, the pipette body 21 is housed in a movable way inside the protective member 22.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a micro-instrument, and more particularly to a micro-instrument for a micromanipulator for processing a microscopic workpiece in a micromanipulator.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a micromanipulator is used when microinjecting cells or measuring the intracellular potential. A typical micromanipulator operates a microinstrument such as a microneedle or micropipette under a microscope field to perform a predetermined process on a microscopic object such as a cell placed in a container such as a petri dish. It has become.

[0003] The microinstrument used in such a micromanipulator is, for example, a micropipette, which is formed by heat-processing the tip of a glass tube with a diameter of about 1 mm into a shape suitable for injection, suction, collection, etc. of cells. ing. This micropipette is then directly attached to the drive arm of the micromanipulator and remotely controlled via the drive arm.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Micro instruments such as micropipettes used in the micromanipulator are as follows:
The tip part is heat-processed as mentioned above, and the thickness ranges from several μm to several tens of μm.
It is molded into a minute shape of about m. For this reason, the conventional micro-instruments are often damaged when attached to the drive arm or when operated by the drive arm. Therefore, the conventional micro-instrument requires careful handling.

An object of the present invention is to provide a microinstrument for a micromanipulator that is not easily damaged.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The microinstrument for a micromanipulator of the present invention is a microinstrument for processing a microscopic workpiece in a micromanipulator. This microinstrument for a micromanipulator includes a microinstrument main body and a protection member for movably storing the microinstrument main body inside and protecting the microinstrument.

[0007]

[Operation] The microinstrument for a micromanipulator according to the present invention is remotely controlled by a micromanipulator, and can perform necessary processing on a microscopic object. Since the microinstrument main body that performs necessary processing is movably housed within the protection member, it can be protected by the protection member when it is moved, for example, by a micromanipulator to a predetermined position where the object to be processed is placed. Therefore, the micro-instrument main body is less likely to be damaged during movement or the like. On the other hand, since the micro-instrument main body is movably housed inside the protective member, for example, when processing an object,
It can be used by protruding outward from the protection member. For this reason,
The protective member does not interfere with the function of the micro-instrument body.

[0008]

Embodiment FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a micromanipulator employing a micropipette as an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a micromanipulator 1 includes a microscope 3 placed on a base 2, moving devices 4a and 4b placed on both sides of the microscope 3, and a control device 5 for controlling the operation of the moving devices 4a and 4b. It is mainly composed of.

The microscope 3 has a horizontal operation table 6 in its center.
The operating table 6 can be placed with a petri dish containing an object to be processed. As shown in FIG. 3, the petri dish 7 placed on the operation table 6 is composed of a pair of glass plates 7a, 7a arranged parallel to each other with an interval between them. A cell suspension 8 as an object to be treated can be placed therein. In addition,
Both ends of the petri dish 7 are open. On the front side of the console 6 in FIG. 2, an eyepiece 9 for observing the work being performed on the console 6 is arranged. Further, an objective lens 10 is arranged below the operation table 6.

The moving devices 4a and 4b are arranged on the base 2 and are electrically connected to the control device 5. The lower part of the moving device 4a is a stand 11, and a coarse movement section 12 is mounted on the stand 11. The coarse movement section 12 is moved several tens of μm relative to the table 11 by a stepping motor (not shown).
The unit can be moved vertically and horizontally. Note that a television camera 14 is fixed to the microscope 3. This television camera 14 is equipped with an adapter 15.
It is connected to the objective lens 10 by. The television camera 14 is electrically connected to the control device 5 and is adapted to send a signal of an image obtained by the objective lens 10 to the control device 5.

A fine movement section 13 is arranged on the coarse movement section 12 . The fine movement section 13 includes a box 13a fixed on the coarse movement section 12 and a drive device 13b housed within the box 13a. The drive device 13b uses an electromagnetic method to drive the drive device 13b in the horizontal and vertical directions (X, Y, Z directions).
It is designed to be able to perform movements on the micrometer scale.

A drive arm 16 extends from the fine movement section 13 to the upper side of the operating table 6 of the microscope 3. The drive arm 16 includes a fine movement arm 17 extending from the drive device 13b and a box 1.
It is composed of a coarse movement arm 18 extending from 3a,
A micropipette 20 is fixed to the tip.

The micropipette 20 is mainly composed of a pipette body 21 and a protection member 22, as shown in FIG. The pipette main body 21 is a tubular member made of glass, and has a suction/discharge hole 23 whose diameter is reduced at one end. Note that the diameter of the suction/discharge hole 23 is usually several μm to several tens of μm.
It is about m. Further, one end of a tube 24 is connected to the other end of the pipette main body 21. The other end of the tube 24 is connected to a microinjector 25 (see FIG. 2) for adjusting the internal pressure of the pipette body 21. A support portion 26 is provided near the end of the pipette body 21 on the tube 24 side. The support part 26 is a grip part 2 attached to the tip of the fine movement arm 17 extending from the fine movement part 13.
Supported by 7.

The protection member 22 is a cylindrical member, and is mainly composed of an inner cylinder 28 and an outer cylinder 29. Inner cylinder 28
covers the outer periphery of the pipette body 21 with a gap in between. A first flange portion 30 is provided at the end of the inner cylinder 28 on the drive arm 16 side, and the peripheral edge of this flange portion 30 is in contact with the inner circumferential surface of the outer cylinder 29 . Further, a second flange portion 30a is provided near the right end of the inner cylinder 28 in the figure. Note that the outer diameter h of the inner tube 28 is set smaller than the opening H (see FIG. 3) of the petri dish 7 placed on the operating table 6 of the microscope 3.

[0015] Like the inner cylinder 28, the outer cylinder 29 covers the outer periphery of the pipette main body 21 with a gap therebetween. A stopper 29a is attached to the inside of the opening (right end in the figure) of the outer cylinder 29 to prevent the inner cylinder 28 from falling off. Outer cylinder 29
Inside, a stepped portion 31 is integrally formed at the end portion on the drive arm 16 side. A spring member 32 is disposed between this step portion 31 and the first flange portion 30 of the inner cylinder 28 . In addition, the outer cylinder 29 is supported by a grip part 33 attached to the tip of the coarse movement arm 18 extending from the fine movement part box 13a.

Note that the moving device 4b is configured to be symmetrical with respect to the moving device 4a.

The control device 5 includes a control unit 35
, a CRT 36, and an operation box 37. The control unit 35 has a built-in power supply, a microcomputer, etc., and is capable of controlling the moving devices 4a, 4b, etc. The CRT 36 has an objective lens 10
In addition to displaying the operation status obtained from the operation console 6, the screen also displays the operation procedure and the contents of the dialogue with the operator. The operation box 37 is used by an operator to control the micromanipulator 1. The operation box 37 includes an operation knob 38 for setting various conditions and instructing movement of the coarse movement section 12, and a fine movement section 1.
A joystick 39 and the like for instructing movement of the robot 3 in the X and Y directions is provided.

Next, the effects of the above embodiment will be explained. By operating the operation box 37, the micromanipulator 1 can perform various treatments on the cell suspension 8 in the Petri dish 7 placed on the operation table 6 of the microscope 3. Here, micropipette 2
The operation of sucking up the cell suspension 8 placed in the Petri dish 7 using the method 0 will be explained as an example.

When performing the suction operation of the cell suspension 8, the operation knob 38 of the operation box 37 is operated to move the coarse movement section 12 of the movement device 4a vertically and horizontally, and the micropipette 20 is moved vertically and horizontally. bring it close to petri dish 7. When the coarse movement section 12 is moved, the outer cylinder 29 is moved via the coarse movement arm 18 and the grip section 33. The movement of the outer cylinder 29 is transmitted to the inner cylinder 28 via the spring member 32, and the outer cylinder 29 and the inner cylinder 28 move together. In addition, since the fine movement section 13 is arranged in the coarse movement section 12, the coarse movement section 1
2, the fine movement section 13 moves, thereby moving the pipette body 21 through the fine movement arm 17 and the gripping section 27.
moves. In this way, the entire micropipette 20 moves as one.

When the micropipette 20 approaches the vicinity of the petri dish 7, the tip of the inner cylinder 28 of the micropipette 20 is inserted into the petri dish 7, and the second flange 30a is inserted into the edge of the petri dish 7, as shown in FIG. comes into contact with. in this case,
Since the pipette main body 21 is housed within the protection member 22, even if the tip of the micropipette 20 collides with the outer wall of the petri dish 7, the operating table 6, etc., it will not be damaged. For this reason,
The burden on the operator in operating the micropipette 20 is reduced.

The drive arm 16 is further removed from the state shown in FIG.
When the micropipette 20 is moved to the right in the figure, the movement of the inner tube 28 is restricted by the contact between the second flange portion 30a and the outer wall of the petri dish 7, but the outer tube 29
The pipette main body 21 then moves to the right in the figure against the biasing force of the spring member 32. Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the tip of the pipette body 21 protrudes from the inner cylinder 28 and is inserted into the cell suspension 8.

When the operator operates the joystick 39 or the like in this state, the fine movement arm 17 is slightly moved by the drive device 13b. This causes the pipette body 21 to
, Y, Z direction, and the suction/discharge hole 23 of the pipette body 21
can be brought close to the target cells in the cell suspension 8. Note that the pipette body 21 due to the movement of the fine movement section 13
Since the movement is in units of several μm, the movement of the pipette main body 21 is not hindered by the protection member 22.

Note that when the pipette main body 21 is slightly moved by the fine movement section 13, the biasing force of the spring member 32 is applied to the coarse movement arm 18 via the outer cylinder 29; 13, but not to the drive device 13b. For this reason, the drive device 13
(b) allows the pipette main body 21 to be accurately slightly moved without causing any operational errors due to the biasing force of the spring member 32.

By operating the joystick 39, when the suction/discharge hole 23 of the pipette body 21 reaches the target cells in the cell suspension 8, the microinjector 25 is activated. As a result, the air inside the pipette body 21 is sucked by the microinjector 25 through the tube 24, and the internal pressure of the pipette body 21 is reduced. As a result, cells outside the suction/discharge hole 23 are sucked into the pipette body 21 from the suction/discharge hole 23 due to the pressure difference between the inside of the pipette body 21 and the cell suspension 8 .

When the aspirated cells are to be transferred to another container, the operation knob 38 is operated again to operate the coarse movement section 12 and move the micropipette 20 in the direction to remove it from the petri dish 7. At this time, the inner tube 28 moves rightward in FIG. 5 due to the biasing force of the spring member 32, so that the tip of the pipette main body 21 is gradually housed in the inner tube 28. When the inner tube 28 is completely removed from the petri dish 7, the pipette main body 21 is completely protected by the protection member 22. Therefore, even if the micropipette 20 collides with other members on the operating table 6 when moving the micropipette 20 to another container, etc., the pipette main body 21
will not be damaged.

[Other Embodiments] (a) In the above embodiment, the drive arm 16 is replaced by the fine movement arm 1.
7 and the coarse movement arm 18; however, if the fine movement mechanism has a structure that is not affected by the biasing force of a spring, the drive arm 16 has only one arm extending from the drive device 13b of the fine movement section 13. It may be composed of. In this case, the tip of the arm extending from the drive device 13b is fixed to both the pipette body 21 and the protection member 22.

(b) In the above embodiments, the case where the present invention is applied to a micropipette has been described, but the present invention can be similarly applied to micro instruments such as microsyringes and microneedles in addition to micropipettes.

[0028]

Effects of the Invention The microinstrument for a micromanipulator of the present invention is equipped with the above-mentioned protection member for protecting the microinstrument. Therefore, the micromanipulator microinstrument of the present invention is less likely to be damaged.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of a micromanipulator employing the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a petri dish placed on the operation table of the micromanipulator.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a part of the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing a part of the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Micromanipulator 20 Micropipette 21 Pipette body 22 Protective member

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a micromanipulator, a micro-instrument for processing a micro-processed object, the micro-instrument having a micro-instrument main body and the micro-instrument main body movably housed therein, the micro-instrument being protected. A microinstrument for a micromanipulator, comprising: a protective member for the micromanipulator;