JPH0736022B2 - Automatic analyzer - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic analyzer having a sample diluting function, and more particularly to an automatic analyzer suitable for application when diluting and measuring a sample whose measurement item contains a high concentration. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in the field of serum biochemical test,
Immune-related analysis is becoming active. There are many measurement items such as CRP, IgA, and IgG to which the immunoassay is applied.
It is necessary to dilute the cells twice, 400 times, or 1000 times.

By the way, the conventional operation for diluting a biological sample is
Depending on the method used by the clinical laboratory technician, or a method has been adopted in which a dilution line provided with a container for exclusive use of dilution is provided and the sample is diluted before being dispensed to the reaction line. On the other hand, the automatic addition of the diluent to the reaction container in which the sample is taken is described in JP-A-58-86463 and JP-B-59-20089.

[0004]

When simultaneously analyzing the measurement items that require dilution and the measurement items that do not require dilution (TP, GOT, etc.) by the same analyzer, it is necessary to analyze the latter measurement items. Despite the fact that the dilution line is unnecessary, there is a problem that a dedicated cleaning device for the dilution line is required for measurement items that require dilution, and the device becomes complicated.

Further, according to the methods disclosed in JP-A-58-86463 and JP-B-59-20089, an extremely small amount of a sample to be diluted is sampled in a reaction vessel and measured. Therefore, there arises a problem that the dispensing accuracy at the time of sampling is lowered.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide an analyzer capable of obtaining a high sample dispensing accuracy for a diluted sample even though the structure of the analyzer is not complicated, and above all, on an individual reaction line. To provide an automatic analyzer that not only can perform a dilution operation with, but also does not need to provide a dedicated dispensing mechanism for supplying a diluting solution, and can obtain a homogeneously diluted sample along with the dilution operation. is there.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a reagent solution tank array section in which a reagent solution tank containing a reagent solution and a diluting solution tank containing a diluent are installed. When a reaction container on a single reaction line requires a reagent, the reagent is dispensed from the reagent solution tank to the reaction container, and when the reaction container on the reaction line requires a diluent, the diluent A first dispensing device equipped with a reagent suction / discharge probe for dispensing a diluent from the tank to the reaction container, and a predetermined amount of sample from the sample container on the sample container array portion to the first reaction container of the reaction line. When the first reaction container in which the sample diluted by the diluting liquid is stored is positioned in the movement path of the sampling probe, the sampling probe causes the sample to flow from the first reaction container to the reaction line. Up to the second reaction vessel A second dispensing device for collecting a portion of the diluted sample, and a diluted sample is dispensed from the first reaction container after the sample and the diluent are stored in the first reaction container. The liquid in the first reaction container is stirred before being taken, and when the reaction container containing the sample and the reagent is positioned at the stirring position on the reaction line, the liquid in the reaction container is stirred. And a stirring device.

[0008]

In the present invention, the diluting liquid tank is installed in the reagent liquid tank arranging portion, and the first dispensing device dispenses the diluting liquid and the reagent into the reaction container on the reaction line as necessary. Plays both roles of dispensing operation. The stirring device has both a stirring operation for the reaction container containing the diluent and the sample and a stirring operation for the reaction container containing the reagent and the sample.
Therefore, a homogeneously diluted sample can be obtained on a single reaction line without the need for a special stirrer for dilution. Further, according to the present invention, the sample is diluted in the first reaction vessel on the single reaction line, and the diluted sample is transferred from the first reaction vessel to the second reaction vessel on the same reaction line. It is collected. The second aliquoting device dispenses an undiluted sample from the sample container on the sample container array part to the first reaction container, and a diluted sample from the first reaction container to the second reaction container. It also serves as the operation of dispensing. Due to the presence of the first dispensing device, the second dispensing device, and the stirring device, it is possible to perform the sample dilution and preparative operations, which had conventionally been large and complicated, with a simple configuration.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1, 2 and 4 are schematic views showing an embodiment of an automatic analyzer to which the present invention is applied. In FIG. 1, the sample suction / exhaust probe 3 is inserted into the sample container 2 set on the sample table 1 which is one form of the sample container arranging section, the sample is sucked by the pipette 4, and the sampling arm 5 is rotated to react. It is discharged into the container 7. 6 is a pump.

A reaction line (reaction table) 8 in which a large number of reaction vessels 7 are arranged in a circular shape is rotated by half a turn plus one reaction vessel in the direction of the arrow in the figure by a drive unit (not shown), and the reaction vessel 7 from which the sample has been discharged is After moving to the reagent discharge position and stopping, the reagent is added. The reagent is added by inserting the reagent intake / exhaust probe 11 into the reagent bottle 10 set in the reagent table 9 which is one form of the reagent solution tank arrangement section, and using the reagent pipette syringe 12 to reach the reagent intake position. The reagent is aspirated from, the reagent arm 13 is rotated, and the reagent is discharged into the reaction container 7. Reference numeral 14 is a valve, and 15 is a pump.

The reaction line 8 rotates by one half rotation plus one reaction vessel in each step, and finally rotates one rotation plus two reaction vessels in two steps. Therefore, the reaction container 7 that also serves as the measurement cell always crosses the optical axis 17 of the light source 16, and every time the reaction container 7 crosses the optical axis 17, the absorbance of the reaction liquid in the reaction container 7 is measured by the photometer 18. It Reference numeral 19 is a stirring rod, 20 is a cleaning mechanism, 21 is a valve, 22 is a cleaning liquid discharge pump, and 23 is a vacuum pump.

Next, the movement of the reaction line 8 will be described in detail. 2a and 2b are explanatory views of the rotational movement state of the reaction line 8, and show steps 1 to 16. The reaction line 8 rotates half a turn plus one reaction container for each step to stop, and the stop position for each step is as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b when viewed from above.
In step 1, the sample S ₁ is dispensed into the reaction container 7 ₁ . In step 2, the reagent R ₁ is added to the sample S ₁ in the reaction container 7 ₁ and at the same time, the sample S ₂ (or the sample S ₁ in the case of multi-item analysis of the sample S ₁ ) is dispensed into the reaction container 7 ₁₀ . At the same time Step 3 sample S ₁ of the reaction vessel 7 ₁ In became reaction was stirred with a stir bar 19, of the sample S ₃ the addition and the reaction vessel 7 ₃ reagent R ₁ in the sample S ₂ of the reaction vessel 7 ₁₀ Dispense. Next, the absorbance of the reaction solution containing the sample S ₁ is measured by the photometer 18 during steps 3 to 4.
After repeating the above operation, in step 13, the reaction vessel 7
Mixed solution of the sample S ₁ and the reagent R _{1 1,} i.e., the wash water is injected reaction solution is sucked. Then, further cleaning water is sucked up clean reaction vessel ₇₁ becomes at step 15, is recycled to the analysis of a new sample in step 17 (not shown).

By moving the reaction line 8 as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to perform photometry at 6 points during the steps 1 to 16, and the measurement data are obtained intermittently as shown in FIG.

When the analysis item has a high concentration, the absorbance measurement value does not fall within the linear region of the calibration curve, and an accurate quantitative analysis value cannot be obtained. Therefore, it is necessary to reanalyze the analysis item. When re-analyzing, it is preferable to collect an absolute amount of sample smaller than the absolute amount collected in a normal analysis operation in a reaction container and to add the same amount of reagent as that used in a normal analysis operation. .

However, if the volume of the sample to be collected for reanalysis is set to a very small value (for example, about 1 μl), the sample dispensing accuracy will be lowered. Therefore, the sample in the container that provides sufficient dispensing accuracy should be sampled once. It is possible to maintain high dispensing accuracy by diluting it with a diluting solution and collecting a part of the diluted sample solution. After that, the reaction between the sample and the diluted sample is proceeded, and the photometric analysis of the reaction solution is performed to measure the analytical items in the linear region of the calibration curve.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view for explaining an automatic dilution operation of a sample, that is, a sample. In step 1, the sample S ₁ is dispensed into the reaction container 7 ₁ in the same manner as above, and in step 2, the reagent R ₁ is not added and one of the many reagent bottles in FIG.
Water as a diluting solution is placed in one reagent bottle 10A, and water is added to dilute the sample. Then, in step 3, the stirring rod 19 is used to sufficiently stir as described above. Further, in step 10, since the reaction vessel ₇₁ containing the sample S ₁ where the sample S ₁₀ is diluted next to the reaction vessel 7 ₂ to be dispensed, the sample S ₁₀ in the reaction vessel 7 ₂ min instead of dispenses, the sample S ₁ diluted from the reaction vessel _71, i.e., injected into the reaction vessel 7 ₂ were collected by several micro liters of the sample S ₁ '. At this time, since the diluted sample S ₁ is sufficiently agitated, accurate dilution and dispensing can be performed.

In this case, the sample S ₁ ′ is added as a new sample with a necessary reagent and reacted to analyze. That is, in step 11, the reagent R ₁ is added to the sample S ₁ ′ in the reaction container 7 _{2 and} the absorbance is measured after stirring.

As is apparent from FIGS. 2a and 2b, the sample probe 3 is moved by the arm 5 so that the reaction vessel array transfer section of the reaction line and the movement path of the sample probe are overlapped in at least two reaction vessels. The sample probe can be selectively moved up and down with respect to the reaction container stopped on the path.

According to the above-described embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a special sample diluting mechanism, and only by controlling the operation of the sample probe and the position of the diluting water on the reagent table,
Accurate dilution analysis can be performed. Moreover, the sample at the time of dilution can be made homogeneous by the stirring mechanism.
Such a dilution method can be effectively used for automatic dilution analysis of high unit serum.

The photometer generally has a curve in the calibration curve as shown in FIG. That is, when the proportionality between the concentration and the absorbance exceeds about 2.5, the absorbance usually decreases. Therefore, when high-concentration serum is analyzed, an error will occur as shown in FIG. In such a case, dilute the sample to react,
It is necessary to lower the color development absorbance for measurement.

In the automatic analyzer to which the present invention is applied, once the sample is analyzed without diluting and the absorbance exceeds a certain value, there is a risk of bending the calibration curve. May be diluted and re-measured.

[0022]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a high sample dispensing accuracy even though the structure of the analyzer is not complicated, and above all, the dilution operation can be performed on a single reaction line. Moreover, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated dispensing mechanism for supplying the diluting liquid, and a sample that has been uniformly diluted with the diluting operation can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an automatic analyzer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a rotational movement state of the reaction line in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of measurement data obtained by the operation of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a diluting operation in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining bending of a calibration curve.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an analysis error of high unit serum.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 9 ... Sample table, 2 ... Sample, 3 ... Sampling probe, 5 ... Sampling arm, 7 ... Reaction container, 8 ...
Reaction line, 10 ... Reagent bottle, 11 ... Reagent probe, 1
3 ... Reagent arm, 18 ... Photometer, 19 ... Stir bar.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic analyzer comprising a sample container arranging section, a single reaction line in which a plurality of reaction vessels are arranged in a circular shape, and a measuring section for measuring a mixed solution of a sample and a reagent. A reagent solution tank array part in which a reagent solution tank containing a solution and a diluent solution tank containing a diluent are installed, and when the reaction container on the reaction line requires a reagent, the reagent solution tank to the reaction container A first dispensing device equipped with a reagent aspirating / discharging probe that dispenses a reagent, and dispenses the diluent from the diluent tank to the reaction container when the reaction container on the reaction line requires the diluent; , Dispensing a predetermined amount of sample from the sample container on the sample container array to the first reaction container of the reaction line,
After that, when the first reaction container accommodating the sample diluted with the diluting liquid is positioned in the movement path of the sampling probe, the sampling probe moves the second reaction container from the first reaction container to the second reaction line on the reaction line. A second dispensing device for dispensing a portion of the diluted sample into a reaction container, and diluting from the first reaction container after the sample and the diluent are contained in the first reaction container The liquid in the first reaction vessel is stirred before the collected sample is collected, and when the reaction vessel containing the sample and the reagent is positioned at the stirring position on the reaction line, An automatic analyzer comprising: a stirrer for stirring a liquid.