JPH08154660A - Microorganism collecting tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain a tool capable of accurately and readily collecting a fixed amount of cells and dispersing the cells into a diluting liquid. CONSTITUTION: This microorganism collecting tool comprises a cylindrical main body 2 constituting a gripping part and chips 3 and 4 which are attached to the end part of the main body and is separable from the main body by applying external force and a groove for taking up cells on the tip faces of the chips 3 and 4. For example, a tool molded in an integrated way is provided with a weakened part such as a notch extending in the periphery between the main body 2 and the chips 3 and 4. The chips 3 and 4 are broken and removed by applying proper force to the side of the chips.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fishing tool and a container used for preparing microorganisms and a suspension of microorganisms, and a kit containing the same. More specifically, a desired microorganism can be picked up from a colony of microorganisms formed on the surface of an agar medium or the like in a fixed amount, and further, a desired microorganism suspension can be easily prepared. The present invention relates to a fishing tool and container that can be used, and a kit including the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the treatment of microbial infections, it is effective to rapidly and accurately identify the microorganism causing the infection and to select and administer an antibacterial agent showing high efficacy against the microorganism. Important for treatment. It is important to administer an appropriate antibacterial agent through such a microbiological test from the viewpoint of preventing the emergence of resistant bacteria.

For microbiological tests such as identification of microorganisms and drug susceptibility tests conducted for the above purposes, biological samples such as blood, sputum, pus and urine collected from patients are dispersed in physiological saline or buffer solution. -A diluted sample solution is used. This sample solution contains a large number of microorganisms that are resident in the living body in addition to the microorganisms that cause the infection. Therefore, smear the sample solution on an agar plate and pre-incubate it on the agar plate. After forming various microbial colonies in the colonies, those of these colonies that are thought to be derived from the causative microorganisms of the infection are microbial suspensions of the desired concentration by picking up a certain amount of cells from a single colony. It is common to prepare a bacterium to determine the identification of microorganisms and drug sensitivity.

[0004] The fishing operation from such a colony is carried out from a minute colony having a diameter of about several millimeters (for example, 1
It is necessary to collect pure bacterial cells in an amount of × 10 ⁸ cfu, cfu: colony forming unit), and it is considered to require relatively skill. Generally, a platinum wire or a nichrome wire (ase) having a looped end, a bamboo gush, etc. are generally used for fishing bacteria. However, with such tools, it is easy to make a difference in the amount of bacterial cells collected between skilled and unskilled people, and individual differences between operators cannot be ignored, so keep the test accuracy constant. However, there is a problem that objective drug sensitivity data cannot be provided.

For the purpose of solving the above problems, a rod assembly disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-245174 has been proposed. This rod assembly is a tool consisting of a slender rod and a collar. Microbes are picked up by the tip of the slender rod that has a groove for taking in bacterial cells by capillary action on the side surface (lower end side surface) of the tip, and the side surface of the rod is further taken up. By removing from the lower end of the rod a collar that wipes away (moves the axial direction of the rod around the rod), a certain amount of bacterial cells is retained at the tip of the rod.

When this rod assembly is used, a relatively constant amount of bacteria can be caught, but the operation of moving the collar and wiping the rod is complicated, and the bacteria are accidentally scattered. There were cases. In addition, the color after wiping the bacterial cells at the tip of the stick (after being removed from the stick) is a separate part separated from the tool body (stick and upper part), but it is highly contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms. However, there was a problem in that careful handling was required. Separation of microbially contaminated parts from the tool body is not desirable from the perspective of microbial contamination.

Further, in this rod assembly, a gripping portion (for example, a shape that can be held by a thumb and an index finger) provided adjacent to the upper end of the rod in order to disperse the caught bacterial cells in the diluent. Is inserted with a finger into the bottle filled with the diluent, and then the frustoconical plug part provided between the grip and the upper end of the rod is fitted into the bottle opening. The operation of shaking the bottle is required. According to such an operation, the cells can be transferred into the diluent without leaking the liquid in the bottle to the outside, but the bottle is filled with the diluent or the viscosity is high. When the bacterial cells were caught, it was sometimes difficult to disperse them in the diluent.

Further, after preparing a bacterial solution in which the bacterial cells are dispersed in the container as described above, it is necessary to collect a certain amount of the bacterial solution from the container by pipetting or impregnating the swab with the bacterial solution. Therefore, the treatment of pipettes and swabs contaminated with microorganisms was also a problem. Therefore, it has been desired to develop a tool that can accurately catch a certain amount of bacterial cells and can easily produce a dispersion of bacterial cells while minimizing the occurrence of microbial contamination.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a fishing tool capable of accurately and easily fishing a desired amount of cells from a colony of microorganisms. Another object of the present invention is to provide a fishing tool, a container, and a kit containing them, which can easily produce a dispersion of bacterial cells after a certain amount of bacterial cells are harvested from a colony of microorganisms. Especially. Further, the object of the present invention is to
It is an object of the present invention to provide a fishing gear tool having the above characteristics, a container, and a kit including the same, which is capable of minimizing the occurrence of microbial contamination.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems As a result of diligent efforts to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventor has provided a groove on the tip surface of a chip for collecting cells to accurately pick up a certain amount of cells. In the fishing equipment such as that, in dispersing the bacterial cells in the diluent filled in the container, when the chip placed at the tip of the fishing equipment is separated from the main body and put into the diluent, By shaking, the chip acts as a stirrer and vigorous stirring of the diluting liquid is possible, and since the chip itself moves violently in the diluting liquid, the bacterial cells attached to the end surface (groove) can be diluted very easily. It was found that a dispersion liquid of bacterial cells can be prepared by dispersing in a liquid.

Further, the present inventor has provided a dropping hole for dropping the bacterial solution on the bottom surface of the container so that a desired amount of the bacterial solution can be agar for sensitivity measurement without using tools such as a pipette and a cotton swab. It was found that the liquid can be accurately dropped on a flat plate or the like. The present invention has been completed based on these findings.

That is, the present invention has a rod-shaped main body which constitutes a grip portion, and a tip which is provided at an end of the main body and which can be separated from the main body by applying an external force, and a fungus body is provided on a tip end surface of the tip. The present invention provides a fishing gear tool characterized by having a groove formed therein for picking up. According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, the fishing gear tool, wherein the main body and the tip are integrated with each other, and a weak body portion is formed between the main body and the tip; the weak body portion is a notch extending circumferentially. The fishing tool, wherein the fishing tool is an integrally molded product, and the fishing tool is obtained by joining the parts forming the main body and the parts forming the chip. The above-mentioned fishing equipment, in which the tip is fitted to the end of the main body; and a tapered fitting head is formed at the end of the main body, and the tip has an opening at a rear end surface thereof, and the fitting There is provided the above-mentioned fishing gear tool in which a recess having a shape matching the shape of the landing head is formed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is a dropping hole covered with a detachable cap, and a tip of the fishing gear is provided near the opening for injecting the diluting liquid. Provided is a container for producing a bacterial cell dispersion liquid, which is provided with a protrusion for separating from a main body. According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is provided the container in which a lid for covering the opening is integrally formed with a main body of the container for producing a bacterial cell dispersion liquid. Further according to the present invention, the above chip;
There is provided a fishing tool kit including the chip and the main body; and a kit including the fishing tool and the container.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In addition, in the present specification, the fishing bacterium should be understood as including any operation when picking up a microbial cell from a microbial colony or the like.

[0015]

EXAMPLES In a fishing tool according to one embodiment of the present invention, a tip including a tip portion to which a microbial cell is adhered after the tip surface of the tip is brought into contact with a colony of microorganisms to fish a predetermined amount of the microbial cell It is easily separated from the rod-shaped body by applying an appropriate force to. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a vertical cross-sectional view of a tool in a mode in which a tip is broken off from a main body. According to another aspect of the fishing tackle tool of the present invention, the tip has a shape that can be attached to and detached from a fitting head provided at the tip of the main body, and after picking up a predetermined amount of bacteria, The chip can be easily removed from the main body. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a vertical cross-sectional view of such a tool. The feature of the tool of the present invention is that the chip after fishing can be separated by the various aspects as described above.

The rod-shaped main body has an appropriate size and shape such that it can be held by holding the whole tool, for example, between the thumb and forefinger or the palm during the operation of picking up the fungus body. The shape of the cross section of the main body may be any shape such as a circle, a polygon such as a quadrangle, an ellipse, etc., and the whole main body may have a cylindrical shape corresponding to any shape of these cross sections. It is preferable to have a columnar shape, an elliptical columnar shape, or the like. The surface of the main body may be processed to prevent slipping, for example, to facilitate the operation of fishing bacteria. As the material of the main body,
For example, polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic resin, metal, or natural resin can be used.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the chip is broken off by applying an appropriate physical force to the side surface of the chip provided adjacent to the main body at both ends or one end of the main body. Can be separated from. For example, a tool in which the chip and the main body are integrally molded is a preferable example of such an aspect. In such a case, a weak body portion may be provided at the boundary portion between the main body and the chip, and examples of this weak body portion include notches having an appropriate shape, width, and depth.

For example, a preferred embodiment tool shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The tool 1 uses polystyrene as a member, and the tool as a whole is integrally molded by an injection molding method. A cylindrical main body 2 (total length: 110.0 mm) is provided with a frusto-conical first tip 3 (total length 10.0 mm) at one end, and a circular cross-section second tip 4 (total length) at the other end.
10.0 mm) is provided. The main body 2 has an elongated shape with a circular cross section, and its outer diameter (4.0 mm) is formed to be larger than the maximum diameter (2.0 mm) of the first and second chips 3 and 4. The boundaries 5 and 6 between the chips 3 and 4 located at both ends of the main body and the main body 2 each have a U-shaped cross section (width: 0.1 mm × depth: 0.5 mm) extending over the entire circumference. By applying an appropriate force to the side surfaces of the chips 3 and 4, a weak body portion capable of breaking the chips 3 and 4 is formed, and the chips 3 and 4 can be separated from the main body 2.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, after the chip 3 (4) and the main body 2 are manufactured in separate steps, the separate chip 3 (4) and the main body 2 are appropriately prepared. There is also provided a tool 1 secured by joining means. As a joining means for joining the chip 3 (4) and the main body 2 used for manufacturing the tool 1, for example, an adhesive well known to those skilled in the art can be used. As the adhesive, any adhesive may be used as long as the adhesive after solidification does not dissolve in the diluent used for suspending the bacterial cells.

As a concrete example of the tool of such an aspect,
For example, in the tool of FIG. 1 described above, the members of the main body 2 and the tip 3 (4) are both polystyrene,
A tool in which the main body and the chip are integrated with an epoxy adhesive at the boundary portion 5 (6) can be cited. The tip 3 (4) can be easily separated from the main body 2 by peeling or breaking the boundary portion 5 (6) which is a joint by applying an appropriate force to the side surface. When the chip 3 (4) is separated from the main body 2 by utilizing the peeling of the joint portion, it is not generally necessary to form a weak portion such as a cut in the boundary portion 5 (6).

According to another aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, a tool 12 having a shape in which a tip 10 can be fitted to a fitting head 11a formed at one end of a main body 11. Is also provided. Referring to the tool 12 shown in FIG. 2, a polystyrene main body 11 having a cylindrical cross section (total length: 110.
A tapered frustoconical fitting head 11a (total length 7 mm, tip outer diameter 2 mm, frustoconical bottom portion outer diameter 4 mm) is formed at one end (0 mm, outer diameter 10 mm). As shown in FIG. 2, the tip 10 has a columnar shape 10a and a rear portion 10c in which a truncated cone-shaped recess 10b that fits the fitting head 11a is formed.
The concave portion 10b is used to fit the fitting head 11a of the main body 11 to mount the main body 11. The specific dimensions of the chip 10 are as follows. Overall length 11 mm, total 10a 2 m
m, opening of recess 10b 5 mm, and diameter of bottom of recess 10b 4 mm. On the other hand, the mounted chip 10 is subjected to a lateral force on the side surface of the entire chip 10a, or
By applying force to the rear end surface 10d of the chip, it can be removed from the fitting head.

The chips 3, 4 and 10 used in the tool of each of the above embodiments can be manufactured from a member such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic resin, metal or natural resin. The shape of the tip used in the tool of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably, for example, a tapered conical shape, a cylindrical shape, a tapered polygonal pyramid such as a triangular pyramid, or a truncated cone shape.

The chips 3, 4 and 10 are separated from the main bodies 2 and 11 by appropriate means as described above, and are put into the diluting solution filled in the container. When the container is shaken, And acts as a stirrer to accelerate the stirring of the diluted solution. Without being bound to any particular theory, the chip itself moves violently in the diluent,
It is possible to transfer the bacterial cells retained on the tip end surface of the chip into the diluting solution extremely efficiently and disperse the bacterial cells efficiently.

Therefore, as the chip member, the chip moves violently in the diluting liquid by shaking the container,
It is preferable to select a member that enables efficient stirring. From this point of view, for example, it is preferable to use a member having a higher specific gravity than water. It is also preferable to embed a metal having a high specific gravity inside the chip and mold the outside with polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylic resin or the like. Furthermore, if a chip having a magnet arranged inside is used, strong stirring from the outside by a magnetic stirrer becomes possible without shaking the container itself.

As shown in FIG. 3, the tip end surface 14 may be a spherical surface that is slightly convex outward in the axial direction or a spherical concave surface that is concave, but has a generally planar shape. The tip surface 14 preferably has, for example, a circle, an ellipse, or a polygon such as a quadrangle, which corresponds to the outer shape of the chip. For example, 4 to 12, preferably 6 to 10, radially from the center of the tip surface 14 toward the outer peripheral portion.
This groove is provided with eight grooves, particularly preferably eight grooves, and a desired amount from the microbial colonies on the agar plate, etc., preferably
1 × 10 ⁷ to 1 × 10 ⁹ cfu, more preferably 1 × 10 ⁸ cfu
You can pick up the fungus body. Of course, the grooves 15 are not limited to those arranged radially, and the arrangement shape thereof is arbitrary, and for example, the grooves 15 may be arranged in a lattice shape. As the cross-sectional shape of the groove, for example, a U-shape can be exemplified.

FIG. 3 shows a specific example, in which a tip having a circular cross section (total length: 11 mm, outer diameter of cylindrical part: 2 mm) has eight U-shaped cross sections from the center thereof. Groove 15
(Width: 0.1 mm, Depth: 0.1 mm) is provided, and by pressing the tip of the chip lightly against a single colony of microorganisms formed on an agar plate, the amount of bacterial cells of about 1 × 10 ⁸ cfu can be obtained. Can be picked up at the tip.

After performing the fishing operation as described above using the tool of the present invention, the chips 3, 4 and 10 are separated from the tool bodies 2 and 11 and put into a diluting solution in which the cells are to be dispersed. However, dispersion of the bacterial cells by shaking the container is one of the important use modes of the fishing tackle tool of the present invention. Any specific method for separating the chip can be used as long as it can break the chip described in the above embodiment of the present invention, peel off the joint surface between the chip and the main body, and detach the fitted and mounted chip. Means may be employed. The chip separation operation is preferably performed inside the container filled with the diluting solution after the fishing operation.

As a container used to disperse such bacterial cells, for example, a container made of a member such as polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene or acrylic resin can be used, and the diluting liquid leaks out during shaking. It is preferable that a lid that can seal the container is provided so as to prevent the occurrence. For example, a container such as an Eppendorf tube (made of polypropylene) that is widely used in the art can be used. Protrusions are provided in the vicinity of the opening of such a container, and the shape of the protrusions makes it easier to apply an appropriate force to the chip when separating the chips, or the bacteria after dispersion on the bottom of the container. A container provided with a dropping hole through which a fixed amount of liquid can be collected is a container preferably used in the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention provides such a container.

FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred container having the above features.
FIG. 20 is a vertical sectional view of 20. Polyethylene container 20 (total length:
66.5 mm, maximum outer diameter: 10 mm) is provided with a lid 21 capable of sealing the one end opening of the container, so that the diluting liquid does not leak during shaking. A protrusion 22 is provided near the opening inside the container.
The dents or grooves for receiving the chips 3 (4, 10) are formed on this, and by utilizing these grooves, the main body 2 (11) is held with the thumb and forefinger, and the chips are inserted into the cavities of the protrusions 22 to set the main body. Container 20 by applying a moderate lateral force through
The chip can be easily separated from the main body inside. As described above, the protrusion 22 is a means for assisting the separation of the chip 3 (4, 10) from the main body 2 (11) inside the container 20, and may be one that facilitates the separation of the chip. For example, its shape and size are arbitrary, for example,
If the fitting type tip 10 shown in FIG.
A rectangular protrusion having a thickness that allows it to enter the gap 13 between the d and the main body 11 is sufficient.

A drip hole 23 having a diameter of 1 mm is provided at the other end of the container 20, and a cap 24 fitted to the other end of the container to cover the drip hole 23 is attached. By attaching the cap, the liquid is prevented from leaking from the drip hole. The dripping hole 23 is about 0.025 ml per drop by applying an appropriate pressure to the outer wall of the container 20.
The hole diameter is such that the desired amount of the liquid droplet can be dropped.

According to the present invention, fishing bacteria tools, chips, containers,
And a kit comprising any combination thereof. Preferably, according to the present invention, the fishing gear shown in FIG. 1 or 2, the container shown in FIG. 4, a kit comprising the fishing gear shown in FIG. 1 and the container shown in FIG. 4, and the fishing gear shown in FIG. A kit comprising the container shown in FIG. 4 is provided. These kits can be used for microbiological tests such as identification of pathogenic microorganisms and susceptibility tests.

[0032]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The fishing tool of the present invention can accurately and easily catch a fixed amount of bacterial cells, and can easily disperse the bacterial cells in a diluent. Further, by using the container of the present invention, the occurrence of microbial contamination can be minimized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a fishing gear tool configured as an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a fishing gear tool configured as another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the chip showing a tip end plane of the chip configured as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a container configured as an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fishing gear 2 Main body 3 Chip 4 Chip 5 Boundary 6 Boundary 10a Chip front 10b Chip recess 10c Tip rear 10d Tip rear end face 11 Body 11a Fitting head 12 Fishing gear 13 Gap 20 Container 21 Lid 22 Protrusion 23 Dropping Hole 24 cap

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A rod-shaped main body which constitutes a grip portion, and a tip which is provided at an end of the main body and which can be separated from the main body by applying an external force, for picking up bacterial cells on the tip surface of the tip. A fishing fungus tool characterized in that a groove is formed. 2. The fishing gear according to claim 1, wherein the main body and the tip are integrated with each other, and a weak body portion is formed between the main body and the tip. 3. The fishing tackle tool according to claim 2, wherein the weakened portion is a notch extending circumferentially. 4. The fishing fishing equipment according to claim 2, wherein the fishing fishing equipment is an integrally molded product. 5. The fishing fishing equipment according to claim 2, wherein the fishing fishing equipment is obtained by joining a component forming the main body and a component forming the chip. 6. The fishing tackle tool according to claim 1, wherein the tip is fitted to an end portion of the main body. 7. A tapered fitting head is formed at an end portion of the main body, and a recessed portion having a shape matching the shape of the fitting head is formed in the tip and is opened at a rear end surface of the tip. The fishing bacterium tool according to claim 6. 8. A drop hole covered with a detachable cap, and a projection for separating a fishing-fishing tool tip from a fishing-fishing tool body in the vicinity of an opening for injecting a diluent. A container for producing a bacterial cell dispersion liquid, which is characterized in that 9. The container according to claim 8, wherein a lid that covers the opening is formed integrally with the main body of the container for producing a bacterial cell dispersion liquid.