JPH04349876A - Micromanipulator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a micromanipulator capable of making a smooth electric treatment on an object. CONSTITUTION:A microutensil 15 is provided with (A) a pair of electrodes 16 and (B) a holder 17 supporting them. For the electrodes 16, with each polygonal tip 18, counter electrode faces are optional in any way.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a micromanipulator for electrically processing a minute workpiece.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art A micromanipulator is used, for example, to perform cell fusion by applying electrical stimulation to cells. In this case, a voltage is applied to cells placed in a container such as a petri dish by operating a microelectrode under a microscope field.

A conventional microelectrode is composed of a pair of electrode plates having parallel plate-shaped tips. This electrode plate is attached to the tip of an arm that is driven by a drive device in the front, back, left, right, up and down directions (XYZ directions), and is used while the tip is in contact with the bottom of a container such as a petri dish. When performing cell fusion using this microelectrode, the arm is moved by a drive device to bring the tips of the electrode plates into contact with the bottom of the container, and the cells to be treated are placed between the electrode plates. Then, when a voltage is applied between the electrode plates, the cells to be treated receive electrical stimulation and fuse.

0004

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION As described above, the tip of the conventional microelectrode is formed into a parallel plate shape. Therefore, the direction of electric lines of force formed when voltage is applied is extremely limited. On the other hand, cells are randomly scattered within the container, and the appropriate direction of the electric lines of force varies.

For this reason, during electrical treatment, although it is necessary to operate the electrode plates by changing the orientation of each electrode plate in various ways relative to the cells to be treated, with the conventional configuration, it is difficult to change the orientation of the electrode plates, making it difficult to perform the treatment. There may be cases where the process cannot be carried out smoothly.

An object of the present invention is to provide a micromanipulator that can smoothly perform electrical processing on an object to be processed.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A micromanipulator according to the present invention is for electrically processing a minute workpiece. This micromanipulator includes an instrument having a polygonal tip and a pair of electrode sections for applying electrical processing to an object to be processed, and a holder for supporting the electrode sections.

[0008]

[Operation] In the micromanipulator according to the present invention, each electrode portion approaches the object to be processed, which is placed in a container, for example, by operating the holder. At this time, since the tip of each electrode part is formed in a polygonal shape, a plurality of pairs of opposing electrode surfaces can be formed by each electrode part. Therefore, by selecting the optimal counter electrode for the cells to be treated, cells can be quickly placed in the opposing portions of both electrode sections. This results in
Electrical processing of the object to be processed can be performed smoothly.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a micromanipulator according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, this micromanipulator is a microscope 2 placed on a base 1.
and a pair of drive devices 3 arranged on both sides of the microscope 2,
It has 4.

The microscope 2 has a stage 5 at its center, and a container 6 such as a petri dish containing an object to be processed is placed on the stage 5. An objective lens 7 is arranged below the stage 5, and a television camera 8 is connected to the lower end of the objective lens 7. A light source 9 is thrown above the stage 5. The stage 5 can be driven vertically and horizontally by a lifting mechanism including the knob 10 and a horizontal drive mechanism (not shown).

The drive devices 3 and 4 include a table 11 placed on the base 1 and a coarse movement section 12 mounted on the table 11.
and a fine movement section 13 attached to the upper part of the coarse movement section 12. The coarse movement section 12 can move in the vertical and horizontal directions with respect to the table 11 in units of several tens of micrometers by means of a stepping motor (not shown). The fine movement section 13 can move in units of 1 μm in the vertical and horizontal directions using an electromagnetic method. An arm 14 that is driven by the fine movement section 13 in the vertical and horizontal directions is provided at the end of each fine movement section 13 on the microscope 2 side. A microinstrument 15 as an embodiment of the present invention is provided at the tip of the arm 14. The micro instrument 15 has a pair of electrode sections 16. The electrode portion 16 is, for example, a stainless steel member with a thickness of about 0.1 mm. Each electrode section 16 is attached to the tip of each arm 14 via a holder 17, respectively. Further, the holder 17 is connected to the tip of the arm 14 by a ball joint, and its angle can be adjusted. Further, a lead wire 20 is soldered to the tip of each electrode portion 16 on the holder 18 side. Both lead wires 20 are connected to a voltage application device (not shown).

As shown in FIG. 2, the electrode portion 16 has a tip portion 18 formed in a polygonal shape. This tip 1
The distance between each opposite side of 8 is, for example, about 2 mm. Tip part 1
A hole 19 is formed in the center of the hole 8 . This hole 19
is used for positioning the tip portion 18 during processing, and also serves as a window for lighting. It is also used to introduce cells to be treated into the holes 19 and move the cells.

Although not shown, the base 1 (FIG. 1
) on which a control device for controlling the microscope 2 and the drives 3, 4 is arranged. This control device is a CRT
, an operation panel and a control unit. The operation panel is provided with a joystick and various buttons. In addition, the control unit includes a CPU, ROM, R
A microcomputer consisting of an AM or the like is provided. By this microcomputer, the microscope 2
, drive devices 3 and 4, CRT, etc. are controlled.

Next, the cell fusion operation using the above-mentioned micromanipulator will be explained. First, a cell suspension containing cells to be treated is placed in the container 6. Then, by operating the operation panel, the arm 14 is driven vertically and horizontally, and the tip end 18 of each electrode section 16 is placed into the container 7. From this state, each electrode section 16 is further moved in the horizontal direction, and as shown in FIG.

In this case, since the tip portions 18 are formed in a polygonal shape, each tip portion 18 can form a plurality of pairs of opposing electrode surfaces. Therefore, the opposing electrode surface can be arbitrarily selected depending on the arrangement of cells to be treated. Thereby, the cells to be treated 20 can be quickly placed between the opposing electrode surfaces 18a with few operations.

Next, when a voltage application device (not shown) is activated, a voltage is applied to the opposing electrode surface 18a of each tip 18, generating lines of electric force 21, which cause the cells to be treated 2
0 is fused.

[0017]

[Effects of the Invention] The micromanipulator according to the present invention has an electrode portion whose tip end is formed into a polygonal shape. Therefore, according to the present invention, by selecting the optimal electrode surface for the object to be processed, the object to be processed can be electrically processed smoothly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a micromanipulator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial plan view of the microinstrument portion of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

15 Micro instruments 16 Electrode part 17 Holder 18 Tip 20. Treated cells

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A micromanipulator for electrically processing a minute object to be processed, comprising: a pair of electrode parts each having a polygonal tip for electrically processing the object to be processed; , and a holder for supporting the electrode section.