Window apparatus for obtaining microscopic image of in vivo breast tissue and method for obtaining image using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11029504-B2
Application number	US-201615756394-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2016
Priority date	Aug 31, 2015
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed are a window apparatus for obtaining a microscopic image of in vivo breast tissue and a method for using the window apparatus to obtain cell-level and molecular-level microscopic images of in vivo breast tissue while maintaining the biological environment of the in vivo breast tissue. In one embodiment, a window apparatus comprises a first chamber having a ring structure with an open window on the center, and a cover glass disposed on the upper part and breast tissue placed on the lower part; a second chamber having an opening window on the center coupled to the first chamber to support the breast tissue; and a chamber holder for fixing the first and second chambers having a tilting mount placing unit with the tilting mount placed to have the cover glass and an object lens of a confocal microscope system stay parallel to each other.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A window apparatus for obtaining an in vivo microscopic image of a tissue, the window apparatus comprising:
a first chamber configured to have a ring-shaped structure with an open window at the center of the first chamber wherein a cover glass is placed on a cover glass seat configured in an upper part of the first chamber and a lower part of the first chamber is configured to hold a tissue for obtaining the in vivo microscopic image of the tissue;
a second chamber without an associated cover glass configured to have an open window at the center of the second chamber wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are configured to combine with each other, thereby holding the tissue between the first chamber and the second chamber for obtaining the in vivo microscopic image of the tissue; and
a chamber holder configured to fix the first chamber and the second chamber and have a tilting mount seat,
wherein the chamber holder is configured to have a first protrusion and a second protrusion extending from a side of the tilting mount seat, and wherein the sides of said two protrusions facing each other are stepped, and the first chamber and the second chamber are fixed between the first protrusion and the second protrusion.

2. The window apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of holes that communicate with each other are formed along the outer circumference surface of the first chamber and the second chamber.

3. The window apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first chamber and the second chamber are combined with each other by one or more bolts or threads.

4. The window apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first chamber seat where the first chamber is placed is formed on the first protrusion and the second protrusion.

5. The window apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the outer diameter of the first chamber is larger than that of the second chamber, the outer diameter of the first chamber corresponds to a length between first facing sides at an upper part of the first chamber seat, and thereby the first chamber is tightly fitted between the first facing sides.

6. The window apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the outer diameter of the second chamber corresponds to a length between second facing sides at a lower part of the first chamber seat.

7. A method for obtaining an image using a confocal microscope system and a window apparatus wherein the window apparatus comprises a first chamber, a second chamber, and a chamber holder which is configured to fix the first chamber and the second chamber combined with each other and have a tilting mount seat, the method comprising:
adjusting the angle of the window apparatus by using a tilting mount placed on the tilting mount seat of the window apparatus;
radiating laser beams having a plurality of wavelengths to a breast tissue through an open window of the first chamber and the second chamber, wherein a cover glass is placed on the upper part of the first chamber and a breast tissue is placed between the first chamber and the second chamber; and
detecting a fluorescent signal excited in the breast tissue,
wherein the cover glass and an objective lens of the confocal microscope system are maintained in parallel with each other during a process of obtaining the image by adjusting the angle of the window apparatus using the tilting mount and wherein the window apparatus is the window apparatus of claim 1 .

Assignees

• Medicinal Bioconvergence Res Ct
• Korea Advanced Inst Sci & Tech

Inventors

• Kim Pil Han
• Kim Yeseul
• Park Inwon
• Kim Sunghoon

Classifications

• G02B21/0028 Primary

  specially adapted for specific applications, e.g. for endoscopes, ophthalmoscopes, attachments to conventional microscopes · CPC title

• A61B5/00

  Measuring for diagnostic purposes (radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00); Identification of persons · CPC title

• G02B21/34

  Microscope slides, e.g. mounting specimens on microscope slides · CPC title

• G02B21/0076

  arrangements using fluorescence or luminescence · CPC title

• G02B21/0032

  Optical details of illumination, e.g. light-sources, pinholes, beam splitters, slits, fibers (G02B21/0036 - G02B21/008; means for illumination of specimens in general G02B21/06) · CPC title