Smear preparation apparatus and smear preparation method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10145768-B2
Application number	US-201715599539-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 19, 2017
Priority date	Nov 26, 2014
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

The time period necessary for a staining process is shortened, and the apparatus is downsized. This smear preparation apparatus includes: a staining vessel for storing a staining liquid therein so as to allow a plurality of glass slides each having a sample smeared thereon to be immersed therein; and a transfer unit for holding and transferring each glass slide. The staining vessel includes a plurality of first holders configured to hold the glass slides. The staining vessel is configured such that a plurality of glass slides held by a plurality of the first holders are immersed in the stored staining liquid, and the transfer unit is configured to put in/take out the glass slides one by one with respect to a plurality of the first holders of the staining vessel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A smear preparation apparatus comprising:
a smearing unit configured to smear samples on respective glass slides;
a staining vessel comprising:
a first staining vessel configured to store a first staining liquid for staining a sample, and comprising first holders, each configured to hold one of the glass slides on which a sample is smeared; and
a second staining vessel configured to store a second staining liquid for staining the sample, and comprising second holders, each configured to hold the one of the glass slides on which the sample is smeared, the second staining liquid being different from the first staining liquid; and

a transfer unit configured to transfer the glass slides one by one from the smearing unit to the first holders to stain the glass slides one by one in the first staining vessel, and to transfer the glass slides one by one from the first holders to the second holders to stain the glass slides one by one in the second staining vessel.

2. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the first holders are provided side by side in a predetermined direction, and
the transfer unit transfers in the predetermined direction a glass slide having been subjected to a staining process, by making a detour such that the glass slide having been subjected to the staining process does not pass above a glass slide being subjected to the staining process.

3. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the first holders are provided side by side in a thickness direction of the glass slide,
the staining vessel comprises a transfer region that is adjacent to the first holders in a width direction of the glass slide, and
the transfer unit transfers the glass slide such that the glass slide passes above the transfer region.

4. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
in a width direction of the glass slide, an internal dimension of an upper portion of the staining vessel is greater than an internal dimension of a lower portion of the staining vessel.

5. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a washing vessel for storing a washing liquid therein, wherein
the washing vessel comprises third holders configured to hold the glass slides one by one in the washing vessel, and
the transfer unit is configured to put in or take out the glass slides one by one with respect to the third holders of the washing vessel.

6. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the staining vessel is formed integrally with the washing vessel.

7. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 5 , wherein
the staining vessel and the washing vessel are adjacent to each other,
the first holders, the second holders and the third holders are provided side by side in a direction in which the staining vessel, comprising the first staining vessel and the second staining vessel, and the washing vessel are adjacent to each other, and
the transfer unit makes a detour such that the glass slide does not pass above the first holders, the second holders and the third holders, and transfers the glass slide along the direction in which the staining vessel, comprising the first staining vessel and the second staining vessel, and the washing vessel are adjacent to each other.

8. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the staining vessel further comprises a separation member for separating the first staining vessel and the second staining vessel from each other, and
the first staining vessel is formed integrally with the second staining vessel.

9. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a drying vessel comprising third holders configured to hold the glass slides one by one in the drying vessel; and
an air-sending unit for sending air to the glass slides held in the drying vessel, wherein
the transfer unit is configured to put in/take out the glass slides one by one with respect to the third holders of the drying vessel.

10. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 9 , further comprising
a heater for warming air sent from the air-sending unit.

11. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 1 , wherein
the glass slides are immersed one by one in the first staining liquid in the first staining vessel, and
the glass slides are immersed one by one in the second staining liquid in the second staining vessel.

12. The smear preparation apparatus of claim 11 , wherein
the glass slides are immersed one by one in the first staining liquid in the first staining vessel for a first set period of time, and
the glass slides are immersed one by one in the second staining liquid in the second staining vessel for a second set period of time.

13. A smear preparation method comprising:
smearing, by a smearing unit, samples on respective glass slides;
storing, in a first staining vessel of a staining vessel, a first staining liquid for staining a sample; the first staining vessel comprising first holders each configured to hold one of the glass slides on which a sample is smeared;
storing, in a second staining vessel of the staining vessel, a second staining liquid for staining the sample, the second staining vessel comprising second holders, each configured to hold the one of the glass slides on which the sample is smeared, the second staining liquid being different from the first staining liquid;
transferring, by a transfer unit, the glass slides one by one from the smearing unit to the first holders to stain the glass slides one by one in the first staining vessel; and
transferring, by the transfer unit, the glass slides one by one from the first holders to the second holders to stain the glass slides one by one in the second staining vessel.

14. The smear preparation method of claim 13 , wherein
the first holders are provided side by side in a predetermined direction; and
the transfer unit transfers the glass slide in the predetermined direction by making a detour such that the glass slide does not pass above the first holders.

15. The smear preparation method of claim 13 , wherein
the first holders are provided side by side in a thickness direction of the glass slide,
the staining vessel comprises a transfer region that is adjacent to the first holders in a width direction of the glass slide, and
the transfer unit transfers the glass slide such that the glass slide passes above the transfer region.

16. The smear preparation method of claim 13 , further comprising:
storing a washing liquid in a washing vessel comprising third holders configured to hold the glass slides one by one;
gripping and transferring, by the transfer unit, each glass slide to the washing vessel; and
putting in or taking out the glass slides one by one, by the transfer unit, with respect to the third holders of the washing vessel.

17. The smear preparation method of claim 16 , wherein
the staining vessel and the washing vessel are adjacent to each other,
the first holders, the second holders, and the third holders are provided side by side in a direction in which the staining vessel, comprising the first staining vessel and the second staining vessel, and the washing vessel are adjacent to each other and
the transfer unit makes a detour such that the glass slide does not pass above the first holders, the second holders, and the third holders, and transfers the glass slide along the direction in which the staining vessel, comprising the first staining vessel and the second staining vessel, and the washing vessel are adjacent to each other.

18. The smear preparatio

Assignees

• Sysmex Corp

Inventors

• Ohmae Yuichiro
• Shinabe Seiya
• Sekizuka Kosuke

Classifications

• G01N1/30

  Staining; Impregnating {; Fixation; Dehydration; Multistep processes for preparing samples of tissue, cell or nucleic acid material and the like for analysis} · CPC title

• G01N33/48

  Biological material, e.g. blood, urine (G01N33/02, G01N33/26, G01N33/44, G01N33/46 take precedence); Haemocytometers (counting blood corpuscules distributed over a surface by scanning the surface G06M11/02) · CPC title

• G01N35/00069

  whereby the sample substrate is of the bio-disk type, i.e. having the format of an optical disk · CPC title

• G01N1/2813

  Producing thin layers of samples on a substrate, e.g. smearing, spinning-on (G01N1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01N35/0099

  comprising robots or similar manipulators (robots per se B25J) · CPC title