JP4817319B2 - Thin section manufacturing apparatus and thin section manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a thin-slice preparation device and a thin-slice preparation method used when preparing a thin-section specimen used for physicochemical experiments, microscopic observation, and the like.

Thin slice specimens used for physics and chemistry experiments and microscopic observations are obtained by fixing a thin slice having a thickness of several μm (for example, 3 μm to 5 μm) on a substrate such as a slide glass.
This thin-section specimen is prepared from an embedded block in a block state prepared by substituting a paraffin-substituted biological sample such as a formalin-fixed organism or animal and further solidifying the periphery with paraffin. That is, first, the embedding block is set on a microtome, which is a dedicated slicing device, and rough cutting is performed. By this rough cutting, the surface of the embedding block is made smooth, and the embedded biological sample which is the object of experiment and observation is exposed on the surface. After finishing this rough cutting, the cutting blade of the microtome performs the main cutting to slice the embedding block into the above-mentioned thickness and obtains a thin slice.

  The thin slice obtained in this way is held in a carrier band such as a carrier tape by electrostatic force or the like, and is conveyed to above a water tank or a slide glass for transfer, for example, the surface of the slide glass. Is transferred onto the slide glass. At this time, when the adhesive force between the thin slice and the carrier tape is large, the thin slice is not smoothly separated from the carrier tape. Moreover, when transferring to a slide glass, if a thin slice is distorted, bubbles may be caught between the slide glass and the thin slice may be broken.

  In order to cope with such a problem, there is one in which a guide roller for moving the carrier tape is moved with respect to the slide glass, and the thin section is brought close to the slide glass in a state where the carrier tape is loosened. That is, a method is proposed in which the entire surface is brought into contact with the slide glass gradually from one direction, and then the carrier tape is separated from the slide glass in the opposite direction (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). .

JP 2000-275538 A JP 2000-310737 A

  However, in the above conventional thin section manufacturing apparatus, since the thin section is thin, if it is adhered to the carrier tape in a distorted state, it adheres to the slide glass in a distorted state, and the bubble is sufficiently entrained. It cannot be removed. Therefore, it is still difficult to transfer the thin section on the slide glass without distortion.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a thin-slice preparation apparatus and a thin-slice preparation method capable of obtaining a high-quality thin-section specimen by reliably separating a thin section from a transport band. With the goal.

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above problems.
The thin section preparation apparatus according to the present invention includes a transport band that transports a thin section cut from a sample block in which a sample is embedded, and the transport section and the thin section when the thin section is transported by the transport band. A charging unit that charges the sections with different charges, and a charge removal unit that removes the charges from the transport band and the thin section charged and bonded by the charging unit.

  In addition, the thin-section preparation method according to the present invention is a thin-section preparation in which a thin section cut from a sample block in which a sample is embedded is transported to a slide glass with a transport band, and the thin section is attached to the slide glass A method of charging the transport band and the thin section with different charges when transporting the thin section by the transport band, and removing the charge from the charged transport band and the thin section. And a charge eliminating step.

  Since the present invention includes the static elimination unit, the static electricity is removed from the conveyance band and the thin slice that are charged by the charging unit and adhered to each other by electrostatic force, and the conveyance band and the thin slice are separated from each other again. Can do.

  Moreover, the thin-slice manufacturing device according to the present invention is the thin-slice manufacturing device, wherein the static elimination unit irradiates the transport band and the thin slice with X-rays.

  The thin-slice manufacturing method according to the present invention is the thin-slice manufacturing method, wherein the static elimination step includes an X-ray irradiation step of irradiating the transport band and the thin slice with X-rays. Features.

  The present invention irradiates X-rays on a transport band and a thin slice that face each other with air sandwiched between the transport band and the thin slice. As a result, molecules such as nitrogen, oxygen, and water contained in the air are ionized and ionized. At this time, the cation is combined with the negative charge on the surface of the carrier band or the thin slice, and the anion is combined with the positive charge. As a result, each static electricity of a conveyance belt | band | zone and a thin slice can be neutralized, and a conveyance belt | band | zone and a thin slice can be separated more suitably.

  According to the present invention, a high-quality thin-section sample can be obtained by reliably separating the thin-section from the transport band.

An embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, a biological tissue collected from a laboratory animal such as a spider will be described as an example of the biological sample.
The thin-section preparation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a sample block B in which a living tissue (not shown) is embedded in a packing agent (as a sample block, a new sample block, a sample block from which a thin section has been collected, or another This is an apparatus for producing a thin slice specimen using a sheet-like thin slice B1 having a predetermined thickness, which is cut from a sample block or the like that has been completed up to rough cutting at a location.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the thin-section preparation device 1 includes a carrier tape (transport belt) 5 for transporting a thin section B1 cut from a sample block B by a knife 2 to a slide glass 3, and a thin section by a carrier tape 5. When transporting B1, the charging unit 6 charges the carrier tape 5 and the thin piece B1 to different charges, and the charge eliminating unit removes the charge from the carrier tape 5 and the thin piece B1 charged and bonded by the charging unit 6. 7.

  The sample block B is obtained by replacing the moisture in the formalin-fixed biological tissue with paraffin, and then fixing an embedded block on the embedding cassette, the periphery of which is solidified with an embedding agent such as paraffin. Thereby, the living tissue is embedded in paraffin.

  The carrier tape 5 is unwound from the supply reel 8 and is moved by the tape driving device 11 along the guide roll 10 disposed in the conveyance path of the thin slice B1 so as to be wound around the take-up reel 12. .

The knife 2 is provided with a cutting surface 2a provided along a horizontal plane.
The charging unit 6 includes a first charging unit 6A that charges the surface of the sample block B with, for example, a positive charge, and a second charging unit 6B that charges the carrier tape 5 with, for example, a negative charge. In the present embodiment, the carrier tape 5 is charged by the second charging unit 6B at a position where the sample block B charged by the first charging unit 6A is further moved, and then cut by the knife 2 so as to be cut. A charging unit 6A and a second charging unit 6B are arranged.

  The static elimination part 7 is distribute | arranged to the upper vicinity of the slide glass 3 so that X-ray | X_line may be irradiated to the carrier tape 5 and the thin section B1 vertically downward from the carrier tape 5 side.

Next, the operation of the thin-slice manufacturing device 1 according to this embodiment will be described together with a thin-slice manufacturing method.
The thin-section preparation method according to this embodiment is a thin-section preparation method in which the thin section B1 cut from the sample block B is transported to the slide glass 3 by the carrier tape 5 and the thin section B1 is attached to the slide glass 3. Thus, when the thin section B1 is transported by the carrier tape 5, a charging process for charging the carrier tape 5 and the thin section B1 with different charges, and a static elimination process for removing the charge from the charged carrier tape 5 and the thin section B1. And.

First, the charging process will be described.
Here, the operator transports the pre-cooled sample block B to the vicinity of the first charging unit 6A of the thin-section manufacturing apparatus 1 by a transport device (not shown). Then, a positive charge is charged on the surface on the side of cutting the thin slice B1 on the sample block B side.

  Next, the charged sample block B is moved in the direction in which the second charging unit 6B is arranged. Here, the carrier tape 5 is fed out from the supply reel 8 at the same speed as the moving speed of the sample block B, and a negative charge is charged on the surface by the second charging unit 6B.

  Then, the thin slice B1 is cut from the sample block B whose surface is charged by the knife 2. At this time, since the surface of the thin piece B1 facing the carrier tape 5 has a positive charge, an electrostatic force is generated between the surface of the thin piece B1 and the negative charge on the surface of the carrier tape 5, and they are bonded close to each other.

  At this time, since the thin section B1 is thin and the thin section B1 is distorted and wrinkles are generated, as shown in FIG. 2, there are microscopically places between the carrier tape 5 and the thin section B1. A space S is formed in the space S, and air is sandwiched in the space S. Therefore, the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 are in contact with each other by the electrostatic force accompanying the charge remaining in this portion.

After transporting the thin slice B1 onto the slide glass 3 whose surface is covered with an adhesive liquid 5A such as water, a static elimination process is performed.
Here, the carrier tape 5 is loosened so that the thin slice B1 is brought into contact with the adhesive liquid 5A, and at the same time, X-rays are irradiated from the charge eliminating portion 7. Here, the intensity of the X-ray is appropriately determined depending on the irradiation range and the surrounding environment, but is about 3 kev to 10 kev.

  By irradiating X-rays, as shown in FIG. 3, nitrogen, oxygen, water, etc. in the air sandwiched between the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 are ionized, and cations and anions are generated. appear. The generated cations collide with the negative charges on the carrier tape 5 and neutralize them. On the other hand, the generated anion collides with the positive charge on the thin slice B1 and neutralizes it.

  In this way, the static electricity that has adhered the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 is neutralized, so that the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 are separated. At this time, the thin slice B1 is placed on the slide glass 3 along the surface of the adhesive liquid 5A in a state in which the deformation of the thin slice B1, entrainment of bubbles between the thin slice B1 and the tear of the thin slice B1 are suppressed. Glued.

  According to the thin-slice manufacturing apparatus 1 and the thin-slice manufacturing method, since the static elimination unit 7 is provided, the static electricity is generated from the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 that are charged by the charging unit 6 and bonded to each other by electrostatic force. Can be removed. At that time, the thin section B1 can be reliably separated from the carrier tape 5 without being torn or bent, and the quality of the thin section B1 can be improved.

  Here, X-rays are applied to the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 that are opposed to each other with air sandwiched between the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1. As a result, molecules such as nitrogen, oxygen, and water contained in the air are ionized and ionized. These ions bind to the respective charges on the surface of the carrier tape 5 or the thin slice B1. As a result, the static electricity of the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 can be neutralized, and the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 can be more preferably separated from each other.

The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the X-ray irradiation from the static elimination unit 7 is directed vertically downward from the carrier tape 5 side, but is not limited thereto, and is directed between the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1. You may irradiate from the direction parallel to the thin slice B1. In this case, all of the air between the carrier tape 5 and the thin slice B1 can be reliably irradiated with X-rays, and the two can be separated more reliably.

Further, the carrier tape 5 side may be charged positively and the thin slice B1 side charged negatively.
Further, the static elimination is not limited to X-rays, and it may be one that can ionize molecules in the air using discharge.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the thin section production apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the thin slice preparation method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the thin slice preparation method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Thin section preparation device 5 Carrier tape (conveyance belt)
6 Charging part 7 Static elimination part

Claims (4)

A transport band for transporting a thin section cut from a sample block in which a sample is embedded;
A charging unit for charging the transport band and the thin section with different charges when transporting the thin section by the transport band;
A charge eliminating unit that removes the charge from the transport band and the thin slice that are charged and bonded by the charging unit;
A thin-slice manufacturing apparatus comprising:   The thin section manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the static eliminating unit irradiates the transport band and the thin section with X-rays. A thin slice cut from a sample block in which a sample is embedded is transported to a slide glass in a transport band, and the thin slice preparation method for pasting the thin section on the slide glass,
A charging step of charging the transport band and the thin section with different charges when transporting the thin section by the transport band; and
A charge removal step for removing charges from the charged transport zone and the thin slice;
A method for producing a thin slice, comprising:   The thin-section preparation method according to claim 3, wherein the static elimination step includes an X-ray irradiation step of irradiating the transport band and the thin slice with X-rays.

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