JPH01203940A - Cover film for optical microscope observation and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the cover film which never blocks in its storage and is adhered speedily when said film contacts a small amount of organic solvent by providing an adhesive layer on one surface of a cellulosic transparent base and coating the other surface with a silicone oil layer. CONSTITUTION:The adhesive layer is provided on one surface of the cellulosic transparent base on the other surface is coated with the silicone oil layer by a 3-10mg/m<2> amount. Then the cover film is manufactured by a method including a process of coating one surface of, for example, the cellulosic transparent base with the adhesive layer and a process wherein a solution obtained by dissolving silicone oil in the solvent capable of dissolving the plasticizer contained in the cellulosic transparent base and also dissolving the silicone roil is applied to that the coating amount of the silicone oil is 3-10mg/m<2> and the coating amount of the solvent is 10-25ml/m<2>.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention particularly relates to a cover film for optical microscope observation suitable for automatic encapsulation and a method for producing the same.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, optical microscopic observation has been carried out by sandwiching a subject between a cover glass and a slide glass, with the cover glass facing toward the objective lens. However, simply sandwiching the subject between two glass plates often makes it difficult to observe the same subject again at a later date. To solve this problem, an adhesive was devised to sandwich a micron-sized thin slice of the specimen between two glass plates and preserve it for a long period of time in the same state as when observed with an optical microscope.
This adhesive is called an encapsulant.

Balsam (
Balsam). However, since it is a natural product, it has the disadvantage that its quality is inevitably non-uniform depending on the place of production, degree of purification, storage conditions, etc. For this reason, attempts have been made to investigate synthetic polymer adhesives as mounting media (e.g., Taibe Akiyama, Beko Ueno, Clinical Examination, 196
(November 6).

Recently, due to medical, pharmaceutical, biological, agricultural, and engineering requirements, it has become increasingly common to observe a large number of specimens with an optical microscope. Traditionally, most of the fixing work has been done manually, but this method is becoming unable to meet the above requirements both in quantity and time.In order to solve this problem, for example, in the United States, Patent No. 4.146.414,
As described in No. 4, 203.797, etc., a film coated with an adhesive on a transparent support is coated with several drops of an organic solvent (which can swell or dissolve the adhesive). In addition, a method has been devised to automatically create a specimen for optical microscopic observation by automatically superimposing and adhering the specimen to a slide glass on which the specimen is placed.

That is, the above-mentioned film has both the function of a conventional cover glass and the function of a mounting medium, and such a film is hereinafter referred to as a cover film.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, new innovations are required in order for users to be able to use this cover film, which is a transparent support coated with an adhesive in advance, anytime and anywhere with peace of mind. That is, when the cover film is stored in a roll state, so-called blocking tends to occur between the adhesive layer and the back surface of the film (the surface of the support opposite to the adhesive layer). - Once blocking occurs, the adhesive layer may transfer to the back side of the film or the surface of the adhesive layer may become uneven, making it impossible to achieve sufficient encapsulation necessary for microscopic observation.

In order to solve such problems, for example,
No. 38408 proposes a method of preventing blocking by using a polymer adhesive having a glass transition temperature of 50° C. or higher. It is true that this method can prevent blocking to some extent, but it may not be sufficient.

Furthermore, when a cover film is stored in a roll for a long period of time, curling in the longitudinal direction (so-called curling) or curling in the width direction occurs, and if the degree of curling is large, the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. , 203.79
In some cases, the cover film gets stuck in the automatic coverslippers machine described in No. 7, etc. and cannot be transported properly, or the cover film and the slide glass do not come into sufficient contact, making it impossible to cover the specimen.

Therefore, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a cover film which does not block during storage and which quickly adheres when it comes into contact with a small amount of organic solvent.

Furthermore, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a cover film that is resistant to curling even when stored in a roll state.

Furthermore, another object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing the above-mentioned cover film.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The above object is to provide a cover film for optical microscopy comprising an adhesive layer on one side of a cellulose-based transparent support, and a silicone oil layer of 3 to 10 mg/m on the other side.
It has been found that this can be achieved by a cover film for optical microscopic observation characterized in that it is coated in an amount of Then, a solution of the silicone oil in a solvent that can dissolve the plasticizer contained in the cellulose-based transparent support and can also dissolve the silicone oil is added, so that the coating amount of the silicone oil is 3 to 3. Long/m2, the coating amount of the solvent is 10~
25 rnl/m''.

Examples of silicone oil include JP-A-62-2691
organopolysiloxanes as described in No. 39;
Examples include modified silicone oils in which various organic groups are introduced into dimethylsiloxane as described in Shin-Etsu Silicone (7) Product data. These silicone oils are preferably those that are soluble in organic solvents with relatively low boiling points, such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, mixed solvents of methanol and acetone or methyl ethyl ketone, and mixed solvents of ethanol and acetone or methyl ethyl ketone. If the amount of silicone oil applied is too small, the effect of preventing blocking with the adhesive layer on the other side may not be exhibited. In addition, if too much silicone oil is applied, the silicone oil will transfer to the adhesive layer on the other side while the cover film is stored in a roll, resulting in sufficient adhesion to the glass slide on which the subject is placed (i.e., It may become impossible to enclose the specimen. The amount of silicone oil applied is 3
It was found that if the concentration was between mg/m' and 10 mg/rn', no blocking occurred during storage in a roll state, and the encapsulation properties were good. A more preferable coating amount of silicone oil is 51T1.
g/co~8mg/m'theal.

A portion of the applied solvent for dissolving the silicone oil penetrates into the cellulose support, dissolves the plasticizer in the support, and transfers it to the surface of the support. Therefore, the degree of curling and the direction of curling change from when the solvent was not applied. Usually, in a system in which an adhesive is applied to only one side of a cellulose-based transparent support, the adhesive layer side curls in a concave manner. Further, in a system in which only one side of a cellulose-based transparent support is coated with an organic solvent, the side coated with the organic solvent curls in a concave manner. Therefore, by applying an adhesive to one side of the cellulose-based transparent support and applying an organic solvent to the other side, it becomes possible to maintain curling balance. The appropriate amount of organic solvent to be applied to maintain curling balance varies depending on the amount of adhesive layer applied, so it may be selected as appropriate. That is, the amount of adhesive required for encapsulation depends on the thickness of the specimen, but in general, the amount of adhesive applied is 10 g/m'' to 30 g/m'' in terms of solid content.
m2, preferably 15 g/m' to 25 g/m'', so in such a case, the amount of organic solvent applied to balance the curling is 10-/m' to 25 g/m'.
m1/m'' range.

In principle, the support for the cover film may be any transparent support, but for example, if a commonly available polyester transparent support is used, there will be no problem when observed with a low magnification optical microscope of about 5 to 10 times. , it becomes out of focus when observed with an optical microscope at higher magnifications. The reason for this is not well understood, but it is thought to be due to optical anisotropy caused by biaxial stretching.

A transparent support without optical anisotropy is useful as a support for a cover film, and a system using a cellulose-based transparent support as a relatively easily available support has a
High-magnification optical microscopic observation is possible. Therefore, a cellulosic support is used in the present invention. Examples of such cellulosic supports include cellulose triacetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, and the like. The thickness of these supports is generally 50 μm to 250 μm, preferably 100 μm.
m to 150 μm is suitable. These supports may be coated with a subbing layer well known in the photographic material industry, or may be subjected to surface treatments such as ultraviolet irradiation, corona discharge or glow discharge.

Examples of adhesives used in the present invention include JP-A No. 62-3
Examples include acrylic polymer adhesives or polyester adhesives such as those described in No. 8408.

When producing the cover film of the present invention, either one of the adhesive layer and the silicone oil layer may be coated on the support before the other, or both may be coated at the same time. good.

(Effects of the Invention) The cover film for optical microscopic observation of the present invention does not cause blocking even when stored in a roll state, and is less likely to curl. Therefore, the specimen is transported normally without getting jammed in the automatic coverslipping machine, and the cover film and the slide glass are sufficiently contacted, so that there is almost no possibility of failure to cover the specimen.

The present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples below.

Example 1 Adhesive Aron S-1017 prepared by dissolving ethyl acetate and toluene in a mixed solvent of 1=1 (volume ratio) was applied to one side of a 130 μm thick transparent cellulose triacetate support.
(Glass transition temperature 87℃, Toagosei Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.,
Japan) and Aron S-1030C (glass transition temperature 52℃
, the same) were blended at a solid content weight ratio of 4 = 6 and applied so that the total solid content coating amount was 20 g/m゛.
a) was created. The amount of solvent applied at this time was 30 m2 of toluene and 30 m2 of ethyl acetate! The other side of sample (a) was coated with acetone or silicone oil (KF-945(A)) as shown in Table 1.
) was applied to prepare samples (b), (C) and (d).

Table 1 The above samples were slit to a width of 24 mm, and each sample was wound by 60 m around a core having a diameter of 126 mm, with the encapsulant layer facing toward the core. This wound sample was stored at room temperature for 3 days. This sample was transferred to the CoverAid automatic enclosing device 5CA-18.
00 (Sakura Seiki Co., Ltd., Japan) to attach it to a slide glass. Bonding was good for all samples.

Further, after storing the above sample in a roll state at 40° C. and 80% RH (relative humidity) for 3 days, lamination with a slide glass was attempted in the same manner. The results are shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Lamination results after storage at 40℃, 80%R)l for 3 days From Table 2, the amount of organic solvent applied on the side opposite to the adhesive layer was
It can be seen that the cover film coated with an organic solvent solution of silicone oil so as to have rn1/m' can be attached to a slide glass even when stored under high temperature and high humidity.

Without a silicone oil layer, blocking is likely to occur,
It is also found that when no organic solvent is applied and when a large amount of organic solvent is applied, bonding becomes poor due to curling.

Example 2 Adhesives Aron S-1017 and Aron S-1030C (solid weight ratio = 1:1) were coated with ethyl acetate and toluene on one side of a 150 μm thick transparent cellulose diacetate support. A sample (e) was prepared by applying a solution dissolved in a mixed solvent of 7:3 (volume ratio) so that the total solid content coating amount was 25 g/g. At this time, the amount of toluene applied was 39mj! /m2, the amount of ethyl acetate applied is 70mA'/
m''.On the other side of this sample (e), as shown in Table 3, an organic solvent alone or an organic solvent solution of silicone oil (F-353) was applied.
f) and (created mother.

Table 3 After preparing the above sample, it was rolled at 50℃ and 15%RH for 2 hours.
After storing it for a day, we attempted to attach it to a glass slide using a CoverAid automatic coverslipper. The results are shown in Table 4.

Table 4 shows that the cover film coated with an organic solvent solution of silicone oil on the side opposite to the adhesive layer can be bonded to a glass slide even if it is stored at high temperatures.

Example 3 Ethyl acetate and toluene were deposited on one side of a 120 μm thick transparent cellulose acetate butyrate support.
Byron 200 (
Toyobo Co., Ltd., Japan) with a solid content coating amount of 15g/r.
It was applied so that it became n'. At this time, the amount of solvent applied was 40ml of ethyl acetate! /m゛, toluene 40mA'/m'
Met. On the other side of this support, a solution of silicone oil in an organic solvent shown in Table 5 was applied to prepare samples (5) and (1).

Table 5 The above samples (Company) and (1) were rolled at 45°C.
After storing the sample at 20% RH for 17 days, it was attempted to be attached to a slide glass using a CoverAid automatic coverslipper. The results are shown in Table 6.

Table 6: Lamination results after storage at 45° C. and 20% RH for 7 days From Table 6, it can be seen that even if there is too much silicone oil, the sample cannot be laminated with a glass slide.

*

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a cover film for optical microscope observation, which is formed by providing an adhesive layer on one side of a cellulose-based transparent support,
Silicone oil layer on the other side 3~10mg/m^2
A cover film for optical microscope observation, characterized in that it is coated in an amount of . (2) A step of coating an adhesive layer on one side of the cellulose-based transparent support, and a step that can dissolve the plasticizer contained in the cellulose-based transparent support and also dissolve the silicone oil. A solution prepared by dissolving the silicone oil in a solvent that can be applied is applied until the coating amount of the silicone oil is 3-10.
mg/m^2, the coating amount of the solvent is 10 to 25 ml/m^
2. The method for producing a cover film for optical microscopy according to claim 1, comprising the step of applying the film in such a manner that the amount of the cover film becomes 2.