JPH10132728A - Scattered light collecting device for particle classifying device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a scattered light collecting device of which attaching and adjusting work can be simplified and which can be easily reduced in size. SOLUTION: The scattered light collecting device collects the scattered light detected by means of a particle classifying device which classifies cell in white blood cells by irradiating a sample solution containing the cells with laser light and detecting the scattered light scattered by the white blood cells. The scattered light collecting device is provided with a plurality of incident areas A-D which are arranged on a concentric circle and faces oppositely to the scattered light and leading-out sections 2a-2d respectively corresponding to the areas A-D.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scattered light collecting apparatus suitable for use in, for example, a particle classification apparatus for irradiating white blood cells with light to detect scattered light and classifying various cells contained in the white blood cells. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, white blood cells are irradiated with laser light,
2. Description of the Related Art A cell analyzer that detects and analyzes light in two directions, that is, forward scattered light that reflects the size of a cell and side scattered light that represents the granule characteristics of a cell, is used.

[0003] In general, leukocytes are lymphocytes, monocytes,
It is composed of various cells such as neutrophils, eosinophils and basophils. It is known that each of these cells is composed of a nucleus and a cytoplasm, and each cell has a different size and shape, and a different size, shape and amount of fine particles such as granules contained in the cytoplasm. Since each cell increases or decreases due to a disease, the state of each cell is detected based on information obtained from granules or particles contained in each cell to determine or diagnose a disease. This classification of leukocytes is useful in laboratory tests.

Since each cell contains almost no granules or particles or inherently contains large or small (0.05 μm to 1.0 μm) granules or particles, the scattered light scattered during laser irradiation has the following direction: . When the size of the granules or particles is large relative to the wavelength; forward scattered light When the size of the granules or particles is about the same as the wavelength; forward and side scattered light When the size of the granules or particles is small relative to the wavelength ; Forward, side and back scattered light

[0005] Due to the difference in the size of the granules or particles contained in each cell, each cell cannot always be clearly separated and identified in the cell analyzer that detects the above two directions, ie, forward and side scattered light. The present applicant has proposed a particle classification device that detects and classifies a plurality of forward scattered lights at different angular positions of side scattered light and scattered light (Japanese Patent Application No. 7-76).
890).

FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the above-described particle classification apparatus of the present applicant. The laser light from the laser light source 100 is applied to the sample liquid F in the flow chamber 103 via the focusing lenses 101 and 102. Part of the scattered light by the white blood cells contained in the sample liquid F is incident on the detector 105 via the converging lens 104 as side scattered light, and is converted into an electric signal.

Further, although the direct light is blocked by the stopper 106, a part of the scattered light scattered by the white blood cells, ie, the forward scattered light is converted into a parallel light by the collimating lens 107 and reaches the reflecting mirror 108. . The reflection mirror 108 has a small-diameter opening in the center, and a part of the irradiation light passes through this opening. The scattered light other than the opening of the reflection mirror 108 is reflected, and is converged as a forward large-angle scattered light.
, And is incident on the detector 110 to be converted into an electric signal. The scattered light passing through the opening of the reflection mirror 108 is converged by the converging lens 111 as small forward angle scattered light, is incident on the detector 112, and is converted into an electric signal.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show a schematic configuration of the flow chamber 103. FIG. In FIG. 5A, the flow chamber 10
3 has a funnel-shaped portion 103a and the narrow tube portion 103b, a sheath liquid (sheath fluid) S _W flows along the peripheral wall of the funnel-shaped portion 103a, the sample liquid F flows through the central portion including the white blood cells.
In this case, since the sheath liquid _SW and the sample liquid F have different flow rates, they are not mixed with each other according to the Reynolds principle. When the sample liquid F passes through the thin tube portion 103b, a laser beam is irradiated.

[0009] Figure 5B shows the details of the narrow tube portion 103b, and is irradiated to the white blood cells C in which the laser beam is contained in the sample liquid F which passes together with the sheath liquid S _W. The emitted laser light is scattered in various directions by the white blood cells.

Returning to FIG. 4, each detector 105, 110, 1
The side scattered light, the forward large-angle scattered light, and the forward small-angle scattered light incident on 12 are converted into electric signals corresponding to the respective light, and output to the analyzer 113 for storage. This analyzer 113
, The respective scattered intensities of the side scattered light, the forward large angle and the forward small angle scattered light are calculated. The calculated scattered intensity data is output to the display device 15 and combined with the large forward angle, the small forward angle, and the lateral scattered intensity, and displayed as a scattergram of, for example, two-dimensional coordinates. By observing the scattergram, classification was performed based on the distribution of each cell in the white blood cells, and the disease was determined and diagnosed.

In order to accurately measure eosinophils and basophils containing relatively large granules or particles among leukocyte cells, a particle classification apparatus having only a main part shown in FIG. 6 is used. ing. In FIG. 6, a laser light is applied from a laser light source 200 to a sample liquid F in a fluid chamber 202 via a converging lens 201. The direct light is blocked by the stopper 203, but the scattered light by the white blood cells C contained in the sample liquid F is converted into a parallel light by the collimating lens 204. Of the scattered light, a component having a large angle incident on the collimator lens 204 is reflected as a reflection mirror 205 as a forward large-angle scattered light.
The light is reflected by a and 205b, is incident on a detector 207 via a converging lens 206, and is converted into an electric signal.

A medium angle component of the scattered light incident on the collimating lens 204 is reflected by the reflection mirrors 208 a and 208 b as forward middle-angle scattered light, and is incident on the detector 210 via the converging lens 209. Is converted into an electric signal.

Further, a small angle component of the scattered light incident on the collimating lens 204 is incident on a detector 212 via a converging lens 211 as a small forward angle scattered light, and is converted into an electric signal.

The electric signals output from the detectors 207, 210 and 212 are analyzed by an analyzer (not shown) to calculate the scattered light intensity of each scattered light, and are combined with each other as in the conventional example of FIG. It is displayed on the screen as a scattergram.

[0015]

However, when detecting the scattered light of white blood cells with the conventional particle classification apparatus shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, a large number of reflecting mirrors, converging lenses and collimating lenses are used as scattered light collecting means. In short, the assembling work is complicated, and the measurement result is affected by the accuracy of the mounting position and the mounting angle. Therefore, precise adjustment is indispensable, and the adjusting work is also complicated.

The conventional example shown in FIG. 6 has better measurement accuracy than the conventional example shown in FIG. 4, but has a large number of reflecting mirrors, so that the assembling work, the adjusting work of the mounting position and the angle are more complicated, and However, there is a disadvantage that the cost increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a scattered light collecting apparatus for a particle sorting apparatus, in which mounting work and adjustment work can be reduced and the apparatus can be easily downsized.

[0018]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a scattered light collecting apparatus for a particle classification apparatus, which irradiates a sample liquid containing white blood cells with laser light, detects light scattered by the white blood cells, and detects the scattered light in the white blood cells. In a scattered light collecting device of a particle classification device for classifying cells, scattered light detecting means having a plurality of incident regions opposed to scattered light arranged on concentric circles, and a deriving unit corresponding to each of the plurality of incident regions It was configured to have:

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the scattered light collecting means is integrated.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the scatter collection means is constituted by an optical fiber.

[0021]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a scattered light collecting device of a particle classification device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a particle classification device using the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of a particle classification device using another embodiment of FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a scattered light collecting device composed of, for example, an optical fiber, which is configured to have four regions for separating and entering / deriving scattered light. For example, in the scattered light incident surface 1a, the outermost region A is
Of the incident scattered light, a component having a large angle is incident as a large-angle scattered light, and a region B of the incident scattered light is incident as a medium-angle scattered light. Similarly, the region C is configured such that a small-angle component of the incident scattered light is incident as small-angle scattered light, and the region D is configured so that the direct light of the laser light source is incident as absorbance information.

In the scattered light collecting apparatus 1, for example, first, a region C is laminated on the smallest region D, and then regions B and A are sequentially laminated to be integrally formed. In this case, each area A to
D is arranged on a concentric circle and the incident surface of the scattered light is configured to be the same surface.

In the above configuration, the large-angle, medium-angle and small-angle scattered light regions are formed. However, by appropriately selecting the diameter of each region or by combining the target angle regions.
Scattered light at any angle or any number of regions can be collected. It goes without saying that the thickness of each region can also be arbitrarily selected according to the amount of incident light.

For example, when the absorbance information is unnecessary, the area D
The exit side of the light passing therethrough may be opened at a place where there is no influence on other detectors, a light-impermeable paint may be applied, or a light shield such as a tape may be used. In this case, a stopper for blocking direct light is not required. When the region D is used, a detector may be provided on the exit side, or the paint or the light shield may be removed.

Further, from the rear portion 1b of the scattered light collecting device 1, the respective lead-out portions 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d are branched and drawn out corresponding to the incident areas A, B, C, D. Have been. Therefore, the scattered light incident from each region of the incident surface 1a is converted into the deriving units 2a to 2 according to the respective angle components.
d and can be separated and taken out.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a particle classification device using the scattered light collecting device 1. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 2 denotes a laser light source, 3 denotes a converging lens, and 4 denotes a flow chamber through which the sample liquid F passes. In addition, each derivation unit 2a of the scattered light collection device 1,
Detectors 5, 6, 7, and 8 are provided at the ends of 2b, 2c, and 2d, respectively.
Are connected, converted into an electric signal corresponding to the amount of incident scattered light, and output. Similar to the conventional example of FIGS. 4 and 6,
The detectors 5 to 8 are connected to an analyzer 9, and a display 10 is connected to the analyzer 9.

In the above configuration, the laser light emitted from the laser light source 2 strikes the white blood cells contained in the sample solution F in the flow chamber 4 via the converging lens 3 and is scattered. The component of the scattered light having a large angle with respect to the optical axis of the laser light source 2 (forward large-angle scattered light) is incident on the outermost peripheral region A of the scattered light collecting device 1 and is incident on the detector 5 from the deriving unit 2a. And converted into an electrical signal. Similarly, the scattered light incident on the region B of the medium-angle component (forward medium-angle scattered light), the scattered light incident on the region C of the small-angle component (forward small-angle scattered light), and the direct light incident on the region D are respectively derived. The light enters the detectors 6, 7, and 8 via the sections 2b, 2c, and 2d, and is converted into an electric signal.

The output signals of the detectors 5 to 8 are output to the analyzer 9, and the scattered intensity corresponding to the magnitude of the scattered light incident on each of the regions A to D of the scattered light collector 1 is calculated. The calculated scattering intensity data is sent to the display device 10, and a scattergram of two-dimensional coordinates based on a combination of the scattering intensity of the front small angle, the front middle angle, and the front large angle is displayed in the same manner as in the related art, and the classification of white blood cells is performed. Can be.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, only the forward scattered light and the direct scattered light are incident on the scattered light collecting device, but the area for detecting the side scattered light and / or the area for detecting the back scattered light is similarly formed. It can also be added. In this case, a side and / or back scattered light collecting area is drawn out from between the incident surface 1a and the rear part 1b of the scattered light collecting device 1, and the side part and the rear part of the flow chamber 4 (the flow chamber 4 and the laser light source 2). Between).
Further, the deriving unit may be configured to branch from the rear part 1b in the same manner as the deriving units 2a to 2d, and may be configured to be connected to the corresponding detector.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of a particle classification device using a scattered light collecting device capable of collecting side scattered light in addition to collecting forward scattered light and direct light. 3, the incident surface 30a and the rear portion 30b of the scattered light collecting device 30 are shown.
The entrance surface 30d is arranged on the side surface of the flow chamber 4 so that the side scattered light collecting introduction portion 30c is branched and extended from between the positions. The rear portion 30b has a side scattered light introducing portion 30c.
Is provided, and the detector 31 is connected to an end of the derivation unit 30e. In this way, not only forward scattered light but also side scattered light can be detected at the same time, and more detailed classification of white blood cells can be performed.
Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. 1 and FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it has been described that an arbitrary angle can be obtained by appropriately selecting the diameters of the respective regions A to D of the scattered light collecting device 1.
If the diameter of each area in FIG.
By adjusting the distance between the incident surface 1a and the flow chamber 4 shown in FIG. 5, the incident angle of the scattered light can be adjusted to each of the regions A to D.

As described above, since the scattered light collecting device 1 of the present invention can be formed as an integral structure, it is only necessary to dispose the incident surface on the optical axis of the laser light source 2 and a large number of convergence as in the prior art. The lens, the reflecting mirror, and the work of attaching and adjusting these lenses are not required.

Further, since the scattered light deriving portion has flexibility, the degree of freedom of the installation position is increased without being caught by the installation position of the detector.

[0035]

As described above, according to the scattered light collecting device of the particle classification device according to the first to third aspects of the present invention, only the scattered light detecting device is arranged in alignment with the optical axis of the light source. Since the conventional focusing lens and reflecting mirror are not required, the mounting operation and the adjusting operation can be simplified in each step.

Further, since the scattered light collecting device can be formed as a single unit, the space for disposing a large number of converging lenses and reflecting mirrors as in the prior art is not required, and the device can be easily miniaturized.

Further, since the lead-out portion of the scattered light collecting device has flexibility, there is an advantage that the degree of freedom of the installation position of the detector is increased and the structure of the particle classification device is simplified.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a scattered light collecting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram in which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is used in a particle classification device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of a particle classification device according to another example of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional particle classification device.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a flow chamber used in the particle classification device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of another conventional particle classification device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 30 Scattered light collecting device 1a, 30d Incident surface 1b, 30b Rear 2a-2d, 30e Outgoing part A-D area

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A scattered light collecting device of a particle classification device for irradiating a sample liquid containing white blood cells with laser light, detecting scattered light by the white blood cells and classifying the cells in the white blood cells, wherein the scattered light is arranged on concentric circles. A scattered light collecting apparatus for a particle classification apparatus, comprising: a plurality of incident regions facing the scattered light; and a scattered light collecting unit having a derivation unit corresponding to each of the plurality of incident regions. 2. The scattered light collecting device of the particle classification device according to claim 1, wherein the scattered light collecting means is integrated. 3. The scattered light collecting device of the particle classification device according to claim 1, wherein the scattered light collecting means is constituted by an optical fiber.