JPH0875656A - Microplate and measuring system of microplate - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make an optical detecting means for detecting a sample state usable also for discrimination of ID of a microplate and thereby to enable discrimination of ID of the microplate without providing an ID code reading sensor for exclusive use, in a microplate measuring equipment. CONSTITUTION: An ID code card 16 is provided on the upper side of the end part of a microplate 10. The ID code card 16 expresses discriminative information on the microplate 10 by a pattern of presence or absence of a marker at a position corresponding to each photomultiplier 20 on the ID code card 16. Since the marker is drawn with fluorescent coating, the presence or absence thereof can be detected easily by the photomultiplier 20. Accordingly, microplate measuring equipment can execute discrimination of ID of the microplate 10 by detecting a luminescent pattern of the ID code card 16 in the same way as in ordinary measurement of a sample in a well.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microplate used for analyzing a sample, and more particularly to a method for identifying the microplate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Microplates are used for testing a sample (eg, blood or urine) by utilizing an antigen / antibody reaction or the like. In this microplate, for example, 8 × 12 circular well-shaped wells are formed,
Samples are dispensed into this well. The well diameter and depth are, for example, about 7 mm and about 11.5 mm, respectively.

In the inspection using such a microplate, usually, after a sample and a reagent are dispensed into each well of the microplate, an optical analysis is performed on the sample in each well by a microplate measuring device. .

As a method of optical analysis of a sample, three methods have heretofore been mainly used. That is, one is that the light source is provided on one side of the microplate, the transmitted light of each well is detected by a photodetector such as a photomultiplier tube provided on the other side, and the light of each well is detected based on the detected value. This is a method of obtaining the absorbance and analyzing each sample by the absorbance. The other one is a method used when measuring the amount of radioactivity of a sample, in which a liquid scintillator is added to the dispensed sample, and the light emission of the liquid scintillator is increased by the photoelectron enhancers provided above and below the microplate. This is a method of detecting with a photodetector such as a double tube and analyzing the sample based on the detected amount of emitted light.

Further, the other one is a fluorescence or chemiluminescence method, which is a method of reacting a sample with a fluorescent reagent or a luminescent reagent, and measuring and analyzing fluorescence or self-luminescence.

In any of these cases, when many microplates are measured in an inspection using microplates, it is necessary to identify which microplate the measurement data belongs to. In some cases, it is necessary to change the conditions and parameters used in the processing of the microplate measuring device for each individual microplate. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG.
An ID code card 120 having a pattern such as a barcode showing the identification information of the microplate is attached to the side surface of the microplate 100 having 10 and I such as a barcode reader provided in the microplate measuring device.
The pattern of the ID code card 120 was read by the D-code dedicated sensor 200 to identify each microplate. When the microplate 100 is used by mounting it on a microplate guide (not shown), a similar ID code card 120 is mounted on the side surface of the microplate guide and the ID code dedicated sensor 200 reads it. Was there.

[0007]

However, in the above-described conventional microplate identifying method, it is necessary to provide the microplate measuring device with a dedicated sensor for reading the ID code card, and the microplate measuring device is large-scaled. There was a problem that it became a thing.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to optically detect a sample state in a normal microplate inspection without providing an ID code read-only sensor in the microplate measuring device. An object of the present invention is to provide a microplate capable of performing ID identification using a mechanism, and a microplate measurement system using the microplate.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the microplate according to the invention of claim 1 comprises:
A microplate used in a microplate measuring device having a plurality of wells and having an optical detection means for optically detecting the state of a sample contained in each well, the microplate facing the optical detection means. The surface side to be provided has an identification information section for displaying identification information of the microplate, and the identification information section is formed by arranging markers detectable by the optical detection means in a pattern unique to the microplate. It is characterized by

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the microplate, the wells are arranged on the microplate in a matrix form of rows and columns, and the identification information section is a matrix of the wells. It is characterized in that the pattern is provided along the column direction of the array, and a unique pattern is displayed depending on the presence or absence of the marker at the position corresponding to each row of the matrix array of the wells.

A microplate according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the marker is formed on the microplate by a light-emitting body.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the microplate, the identification information section has a base section having a predetermined light transmission ability, and the markers are arranged on the base section.
It is characterized in that it has a light transmissivity different from that of the base portion.

The microplate according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the marker is a slit provided in the base portion.

A microplate according to a sixth aspect of the present invention comprises a main body portion having a well and a guide portion for holding the main body portion, and the identification information portion is provided in the guide portion. And

A microplate measuring system according to a seventh aspect of the present invention is an optical detection system for optically detecting a state of a microplate having a plurality of wells and each sample dispensed into each well of the microplate. A microplate measuring system having means for analyzing each sample based on the detection value of the optical detecting means, wherein the microplate has a surface side facing the optical detecting means. Has an identification information section for displaying identification information of the microplate, and the identification information section is formed by arranging markers detectable by the optical detection means in a pattern unique to the microplate. The plate measuring device reads the identification information part of the microplate by the optical detecting means. When Tsu based on a detection signal of the optical detection means and having a microplate identifying means for identifying the pattern of the identification information part.

[0016]

According to the above construction, the identification information section of the microplate expresses the identification information unique to the microplate by the arrangement pattern of the markers. The presence or absence of the marker can be detected by the optical detection means of the microplate measuring device. Therefore, the microplate measuring device can obtain the identification information of the microplate by reading the array pattern of the markers in the identification information part of the microplate by the optical detecting means. That is, by using the microplate according to the present invention, the optical detection means of the microplate measuring device can be used for both normal sample inspection and microplate ID recognition, and the dedicated ID code sensor in the microplate measuring device can be used. Is unnecessary.

Generally, a microplate has a structure in which a plurality of wells are arranged in a matrix in the vertical and horizontal directions. In the present invention, in the microplate having such a structure,
The identification information section is provided along the column direction of the matrix array of the well, and the identification information section displays a unique pattern depending on the presence or absence of the marker at the position corresponding to each row of the matrix array. The plate measuring device can read the identification information portion only by operating the optical detecting means in the same manner as when measuring the sample in the well.

Further, by using the microplate in a microplate measuring device of the type in which the marker of the identification information part is formed of a luminescent material such as a fluorescent material, the radioactivity of the sample in the well is detected by scintillation. You can

Further, in the microplate measuring apparatus of the type in which the absorbance of the sample in the well is measured by irradiating light from one surface side of the microplate by arranging the marker of the identification information section to discriminate by the light transmitting ability. , That microplate can be used. Such a marker can be easily constructed by providing a slit in the base portion of the identification information portion.

The identification information part as described above may be provided in the microplate body or in the guide part for holding the microplate body.

In the microplate measuring system using such a microplate, the microplate measuring device reads the identification information part of the microplate by the optical detecting means, and based on the detection signal of the optical detecting means at that time. The microplate identification means identifies each microplate.

[0022]

Embodiments of the microplate according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a top view showing an embodiment of the microplate according to the present invention. In the figure, the microplate 10 comprises a microplate body 12 and a microplate guide 14. The microplate body 12 is attached to the microplate guide 14 for convenience of handling and the like. The microplate body 12 is provided with a well 12a for accommodating a measurement sample. The microplate body 12 shown in this example is of the most common type, with wells 12a extending vertically from A to.
8 of H and 12 of 1 to 12 are arranged in a matrix. An ID code card 16 indicating the identification information of the microplate 10 is mounted on the upper surface of one end of the microplate guide 14. The ID code card 16 is a card made of, for example, paper, plastic, or the like, in which a marker 16a is drawn with fluorescent paint in a predetermined identification pattern. In this way, the ID code card 16 of the type in which the marker 16a is formed of a luminescent material can be used for measuring the sample radioactivity, that is, for identifying the ID of the microplate 10 in the scintillation type microplate measuring device.

The method of measuring the microplate 10 and the ID identification in the scintillation type microplate measuring device will be described below with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part showing a state of the microplate 10 of FIG. 1 at the time of measurement. In FIG.
Each row of wells 12a arranged in the Y direction in the figure is simultaneously measured in parallel by a plurality of photomultiplier tubes (PMT) 20 arranged in one row of the microplate measuring device. Each photomultiplier tube 20 detects scintillation light from each well 12a. When the measurement of the well 12a in one row is completed, the row of the photomultiplier tubes 20 is moved to the well row on the right side in the X direction. In this way, the microplate measuring device performs a predetermined measurement on each well 12a while scanning the row of the photomultiplier tubes 20 relative to the microplate 10 to the right.

Here, the microplate 10 of the present embodiment.
An ID code card 16 is attached to the upper left end surface in the figure. Therefore, when measuring the microplate 10,
Prior to detecting the scintillation light in each well 12a, the ID code card 16 is first read by the photomultiplier tube 20.

The ID code card 16 has a marker 16a.
Identification information (for example, ID number) of the microplate is expressed by the array pattern of. This array pattern is indicated by the presence / absence pattern of the marker 16a at the position corresponding to each photomultiplier tube 20 on the ID code card 16. That is, X of the matrix arrangement of the wells 12a
The identification information of the microplate 10 is formed by the pattern of the presence or absence of the marker 16a at each position of the ID code card 16 corresponding to each row in the direction.

Therefore, each position of the ID code card 16 corresponding to each row in the X direction of the matrix array indicates each bit of the microplate identification information. A microplate 1 having an 8 × 12 well array shown in FIG.
When it is 0, the ID code card 16 has an 8-bit information amount. When the 8-bit information amount is insufficient, the information amount of the identification information can be increased by providing a plurality of ID code cards in parallel in the X direction.

Since the marker 16a is drawn by the fluorescent paint as described above, the presence or absence thereof can be easily detected by the photomultiplier tube 20. Marker 1
The fluorescent paint used for 6a may be a conventional self-luminous type or a non-radioactive phosphorescent type which has been developed in recent years and can emit light for a long time.

Such an ID code card 16 is mounted on the microplate guide 14 before the measurement in the microplate measuring device, and is first read by the photomultiplier tube 20 during the measurement.

That is, as shown in FIG. 3, in the microplate measuring apparatus, when the row of the photomultiplier tubes 20 comes over the ID code card 16, each photomultiplier tube 20 causes the photomultiplier tubes 20 to read from the ID code card 16. Detects luminescence. The detection signal of each photomultiplier tube 20 is counted by the counter 22, and the count value of each photomultiplier tube 20 is input to the arithmetic processing unit 24.

The arithmetic processing section 24 judges that the first input at the time of measurement is the identification information of the microplate, and sends the input signal to the ID identification section 26. The ID identifying unit 26 determines from the count value of each photomultiplier tube 20 whether or not the marker 16a is present in each bit of the ID code card 16, and obtains the arrangement pattern of the markers 16a. Then, the ID identification unit 26 obtains identification information such as the ID number of the microplate 10 to be measured, based on the array pattern. The identification information thus obtained is the ID of the microplate 10 to be measured.
It is recorded as information. If necessary, the arithmetic processing unit 24 changes the setting conditions (data processing parameters, applied voltage of the photomultiplier tube, etc.) of the microplate measuring device according to the identification information. When the identification of the ID of the microplate 10 is completed, the sample in the well is measured in the same manner as the conventional method. The count value of the in-well sample is arithmetically processed by the arithmetic processing unit 24 to obtain the measured value of each sample.

As described above, when the microplate according to this embodiment is used, the ID code card 16 of each microplate 10 can be read by the photomultiplier tube 20 for measuring a sample, so that the ID code can be read. No special sensor is required. Further, according to the present embodiment, the code of the ID code card 16 is shown by the pattern of the presence or absence of the marker 16a made of a luminous body, and the presence or absence of the marker 16a can be easily identified by each photomultiplier tube 20, The identification information of the ID code card 16 can be accurately detected.

In the present embodiment, the case of a microplate measuring device of the type in which a plurality of photomultiplier tubes are used to measure a plurality of wells in parallel has been described, but the microplate according to the present embodiment is not limited to this. The present invention is not limited to this, and can also be used for a microplate measuring device of a type in which one photomultiplier tube is scanned in the XY directions to measure a sample in each well.

The microplate 10 of this embodiment is also used.
Has a microplate guide 14, but the present invention is also effective when only the microplate body 12 without the microplate guide 14 is used. In this case, as shown in FIG.
First row of well array or microplate body 1
The ID code card 16 may be attached to the blank portion at the end of 2.

Further, in the present embodiment, the microplate used in the microplate measuring device of the type that detects the luminescence of the sample itself has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a light source is provided on one side of the microplate. It is also applicable to a microplate measuring device of the type in which the absorbance of the sample is measured by the photodetector on the other surface side. In this case, the ID code card 16 may be formed of an opaque member, and the marker 16a may be provided with a slit in the opaque member. The microplate measuring device can obtain the identification information by reading the pattern of the transmitted light of the ID code card 16. Of course, the same effect can be obtained by using an ID code card formed by arranging an opaque marker or a transparent marker of a color different from that of the card body on the card body made of a transparent member.

In the above example, I
Although the D code card is attached, the method of the present invention can be executed without using the ID code card. That is, in this case, as shown in FIG. 5, the first column of the wells 12a of the microplate body 12 is secured as an identification information area, and when the sample or reagent is dispensed to each well 12a, the first A marker solution may be injected into some of the wells 12a in the row to form an identification pattern. When the marker solution is used in a scintillation type microplate measuring device, for example, a liquid scintillator mixed with a radionuclide may be used. When used in an absorbance measuring type microplate measuring device, a coloring liquid may be used as the marker liquid.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the optical detection means of the microplate measuring device can be used for both normal sample inspection and identification of the microplate, the ID in the microplate measuring device can be used.
A dedicated sensor for reading the code is unnecessary, and the device configuration can be simplified. The identification information part of the microplate expresses the identification information by the bit pattern of the presence or absence of the marker, and the optical detection means only needs to detect the presence or absence of the marker in each bit. It is sufficient to use the dynamic detection means as they are.

Further, in the microplate in which the wells are arranged in a matrix in the vertical and horizontal directions, the identification information section displays a unique identification pattern depending on the presence or absence of the marker at the position corresponding to each row of the matrix arrangement. The plate measuring device can read the identification information part by the same operation as when measuring the sample in the well.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a top view showing a microplate according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing how the microplate of FIG. 1 is measured.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a microplate measuring system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top view showing another microplate according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a top view showing another microplate according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view for explaining a conventional microplate ID identification method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 microplate 12 microplate main body 12a well 14 microplate guide 16 ID code card 16a marker 20 photomultiplier tube 22 counter 24 arithmetic processing unit 26 ID identification unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A microplate used in a microplate measuring device having a plurality of wells and having an optical detecting means for optically detecting a state of a sample contained in each well, said optical plate comprising: On the surface side facing the physical detection means, there is an identification information part for displaying the identification information of the microplate, and the identification information part is a pattern peculiar to the microplate with a marker detectable by the optical detection means. A microplate characterized by being arrayed in. 2. The microplate according to claim 1, wherein the wells are arranged on the microplate in rows and columns in a predetermined row and in a predetermined column in a matrix form, and the identification information part is provided in the well. A microplate, which is provided along the column direction of a matrix array, and displays a unique pattern depending on the presence or absence of the marker at a position corresponding to each row of the matrix array of the wells. 3. The microplate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the marker is formed on the microplate by a light emitting body. 4. The microplate according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the identification information section has a base section having a predetermined light transmission ability, and the markers are arranged on the base section. A microplate having a light transmissivity different from that of the base portion. 5. The microplate according to claim 4, wherein the marker is a slit provided in the base portion. 6. The microplate according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the microplate includes a main body portion provided with a well and a guide portion that holds the main body portion, and the identification information portion. Is provided in the guide part. 7. A microplate having a plurality of wells, and an optical detection means for optically detecting the state of each sample dispensed to each well of the microplate, the detection of the optical detection means. In a microplate measuring system comprising a microplate measuring device for analyzing each sample based on a value, the microplate displays identification information of the microplate on a surface side facing the optical detecting means. An identification information section is provided, wherein the identification information section is formed by arranging markers detectable by the optical detection means in a pattern unique to the microplate, and the microplate measuring device is provided by the optical detection means. Based on the detection signal of the optical detection means when the identification information part of the microplate is read A microplate measuring system comprising microplate identifying means for identifying the pattern of the identification information section.