JPS60619B2 - densitometer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a desocytometer for measuring the density of a fractional image in an electrophoresis apparatus.

Electrophoresis devices are known, particularly electrophoresis devices that use a cellulose acetate membrane as a support for a buffer solution to analyze serum proteins.

Cellulose acetate electrophoresis equipment has low adsorption of specimens and dyes, minimal sample adsorption, so there is little sample loss, even small specimens can be analyzed, and there is little tailing during electrophoresis, so separation is easy. It has advantages such as clarity and ease of quantitative determination.

The applicant has developed an automatic electrophoresis device that can simultaneously perform such cellulose acetate electrophoresis on a large number of specimens. This automatic electrophoresis device has a part that cuts the rolled support into a predetermined length,
A part where this support is wetted with a buffer solution, a part where a serum sample is applied to the support, a tortoise electrophoresis part which fractionates the serum applied to the support, and a support which has been subjected to dew electrophoresis is stained. and a densitometer section for making the dyed support transparent and measuring the density. In order to improve measurement accuracy in such an electrophoresis device, it is necessary to calibrate the densitometer h using a calibration film. In addition, there are cases where it is desired to measure the support again after it has been measured once. Conventionally, when performing such assays or retests, the densitometer was disassembled, the clarifying liquid was drained, and then the assay film and support were loaded, but this work was extremely troublesome. The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a densitometer in which assay films and supports can be introduced very easily without disassembling the densitometer or draining the clarifying fluid. This is what we intend to provide. The present invention includes a first introduction port for introducing a sheet-like flexible support having a partial image of a sample, and a transporting of the support introduced through the first introduction port to a spotlighting means position in a clarifying liquid tank. a second transport mechanism that discharges the support after measuring the density of the partial image on the support; and a second transport mechanism that discharges the support after measuring the density of the partial image on the support; a second inlet for introducing the
The test film and the support introduced through the inlet are transported by the first transport mechanism to the neck light means position, and after the light crosses, are discharged by the second transport mechanism. be.

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the structure of an example of a test film to be loaded into the densitometer of the present invention. In this example, the dimensions of the assay film 1 are the same as the dimensions of the support. The main body 2 of the test film is made of a transparent and flexible material, and has detection marks 3 and 4 formed on its front and rear ends, and one or more detection patterns 5 approximately in the center. In addition, anti-slip tracks 6 and 7 may be formed on both edges of the test film by knurling, grain processing, etc. to ensure good contact with the rollers for feeding the test film in the direction shown by the arrow and to prevent slippage. can. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of an example of the densitometer of the present invention.

In the case of an automatic electrophoresis analyzer, the support carrying the separate images of the test sample is transferred from the dyeing, decolorizing and drying section 8 to the drive roller 9.
, 101, and is sent to the densitometer section 11 via the first inlet E. The densitometer section 11 is provided with a container 12 for a clarifying liquid, and the support sent to the densitometer section 11 is stored therein. -Ra 13, 14:15, 16:17
, 18:19, It will be possible to send out the clarification liquid from the second river. A photoelectric support detector 21 is provided behind the loafs 13 and 14, and its output is sent to a control circuit 2.
Supply to 2. A control circuit 22 controls a motor 23 that drives the rollers 9 to 20 so that the support can be fed at a predetermined speed. A transparent window 24 is provided in the center of the container 12, and a light source device 25 and a light receiving device 26 are disposed across the window so as to be movable in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. Drive circuit 2 to move light source device 25
7 is provided, thereby controlling the motor 28, driving a pinion 29 by this motor, and meshing this pinion with a rack 30 attached to the light source device 25. Although not shown in FIG. 2, by moving the light receiving device 26 in synchronization with the light source device 25, it is possible to scan in the width direction of the support. When the concentration measurement is completed, the support is sent out of the desotometer via rollers 17-2. As described above, a normal support enters the densitometer section 11 in the direction shown by arrow A, and is discharged in the direction shown by arrow C after measurement. Therefore, the rollers 13 to 16 constitute a first conveyance mechanism that conveys the support across the support to the optical position, and the rollers 17 to 20 constitute a second conveyance mechanism that discharges the support after measurement. In the present invention, the above-mentioned support feeding mechanism is used as is to introduce an assay film or a support to be re-examined into a densitometer, carry out scanning, and then discharge the densitometer.

For this purpose, an assay film or a support as shown in FIG. 1 is introduced from the direction of arrow B through the second introduction port E2 using the rows 31 and 32. The test film and support introduced into the densitometer section 11 are sent by rollers 13 and 14 of the first conveyance mechanism, and for example, in the case of a test film, the mark 3 at the front end is detected by the support detector 21. . This signal is supplied to the control circuit 22, and starts, for example, a timer of the control circuit 22 to drive the motor 23 for a predetermined period of time. This time is set to such a time that the motor 23 stops when the pattern 5 of the test film 1 reaches the density measurement position by the light source device 25 and the light receiving device 26. In this state, scanning can be performed and verification can be performed. This test can be repeated for the same pattern if necessary. In the case where there are a plurality of patterns 5 as shown in FIG. 1, the test film can be fed by the pattern pitch P after the test for one pattern is completed, and the tests can be performed for successive patterns. After the test film is tested in this way, the test film is discharged from the densitometer section 11 by the rollers 17 to 20' of the second conveyance mechanism. When the support to be retested is introduced through the second inlet E2, the measurement is carried out in the same manner, and then the support is discharged from the densitometer. The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example, but can be modified in many ways.

In the example described above, marks 3 and 4 on both ends of the test film and the support detector 21 were used to match the test pattern on the test film with the center of the sidelight optical system, but marks are provided at both ends of the test film. First, the test pattern itself can be detected as a mark and the test pattern can be positioned at a predetermined position. Furthermore, without using the marks or patterns on the test film and the support detector 21, the test film is placed at a predetermined mark position during loading, the tip position is regulated by a stopper, etc., and a predetermined feeding operation is performed. You can also do that. Furthermore, since the assay film is immersed in the clarifying fluid, it is also possible to cover the assay film with a laminate film made of a material that is not modified by the clarifying fluid. According to the above-described densitometer according to the present invention, an assay film or a support to be retested can be introduced into the densitometer in the same way as a normal support without disassembling the densitometer or removing the clarifying liquid. It can be discharged after measurement, which significantly improves work efficiency, and the transfer mechanism for the test film or support to be re-examined can be used as is, so there is no need to provide any additional mechanism. , can be implemented at low cost.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the structure of an example of an assay film to be introduced into the densitometer of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of an example of the densitometer of the present invention. 1... Test film, 11... Densitometer section, 12... Clarifying liquid container, 13-16...
Lo-fu of the first transport mechanism, 17-20... Lo-fu of the second transport mechanism, 25... Light source device, 26...
...Light receiving device, E,, E2...First and second introduction ports. Figure 1 Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first inlet for introducing a sheet-like flexible support having a sample image, and a first inlet for transporting the support introduced through the first inlet to the photometric means position in the clarifying liquid tank.
A transport mechanism, a second transport mechanism that discharges the support after measuring the density of the partial image on the support, and a support having a test film or sample image are introduced in the middle of the first transport mechanism. and a second introduction port, the test film or support introduced through the second introduction port is transported by the first transport mechanism to a photometry means position, and after photometry is discharged by the second transport mechanism. A densitometer that is characterized by: