Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Control element responsive to a sensed operating condition
Patent
1995-04-12
1997-07-22
Warden, Jill
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Control element responsive to a sensed operating condition
422 72, 422 8205, 422 99, 422104, 436165, 436177, 436178, 4352871, 4352877, 4352884, 4352887, B01L 300
Patent
active
056501250
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to apparatus for use in conducting tests, particularly comparative tests, by a plurality of samples to be tested, and to a method of conducting a test on a plurality of samples.
Without prejudice to the generality of the invention it will be described hereinbelow with specific reference to its application to the performance of a test or assay on cell cultures, especially for the purpose of establishing the effects on the cells of various drugs and concentrations of drugs during an incubation period.
The apparatus of the present invention may be used in the assessment of, for example, the cytotoxic effect of drugs on both normal and tumorous cells. One known apparatus for processing a plurality of samples for subsequent assessment by a technique known as the Differential Staining Cytotoxicity (DiSC) assay is described in WO 89/06162; this apparatus comprises a plurality of separate tubes held in a first rack for incubation and a second rack for centrifugation. This apparatus has proved to be inconvenient since each tube first needs to be placed into the first rack during incubation of the sample in it and then needs to be moved to the second rack or holder for subsequent centrifuging in a cytocentrifuge (for example a Shandon Cytocentrifuge) or similar. There are a number of disadvantages to this known apparatus. A primary disadvantage lies in the fact that the tubes have to be made of a material to which the cells, particularly the tumour cells, are non adherent, or at least have a low adherence so that, upon centrifugation, release of the cells from the tube onto the microscope slide is reliably achieved without there being an unpredictable proportion of the cell population remaining within the tube. Typically, such tubes are made of polypropylene, which is not transparent, but merely translucent.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for use in forming a plurality of samples on a receiving member, for microscopic examination, comprising a plurality of receptacles each having an open end and a closed end, and a holder for the receptacles allowing assembly to the said receiving member with the interposition of an absorbent member having a plurality of openings and retentions by securing means for holding the receiving member, the absorbent member, the holder and the receptacles together as an assembly with the open ends of the receptacles in contact with the absorbent member and in register with respective openings therein such that, upon centrifugation, supernatant liquid can be absorbed by the absorbent member through the edges of the said openings therein without leakage around the junction between the open end of each receptacle and the respective opening in the absorbent member, characterized in that the receptacles are joined together as a unitary receptacle member comprising at least one row of receptacles, and the holder is adapted to receive the said unitary receptacle member in a predetermined orientation and has means for determining the relative position of the said unitary receptacle member and the said receiving member in forming the said assembly.
For use in the DiSC assay optical transparency is not required whereas non-adherence of tumour cells is essential. The DiSC assay technique involves staining the cells within the tubes with a stain having a differential effect on live and dead tumour cells, and the earlier document WO 89/06162 makes reference to the use of a number of stains, particularly Fast Green and Nigrosin, or a mixture of the two, which are excluded by living cells but stain the dead cells. Upon centrifugation surplus dye is absorbed by an absorbent member together with the remaining supernatant liquid to leave samples of cells on a microscope slide. The above-mentioned earlier document discloses a holder capable of retaining five separate tubes to enable five samples to be deposited on to one microscope slide. The cell samples are then
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Wallenhorst Maureen M.
Warden Jill
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