JP6744018B2 - Biological sampling device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a configuration of a biological sample collecting apparatus, particularly a collecting apparatus used for collecting and analyzing components contained in a biological sample such as saliva and blood.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, a biological sample collecting/analyzing apparatus has been used to collect and analyze components in various biological samples, and one of them is a saliva collecting analyzer. In this saliva collection analyzer, the absorbent cotton is left in the oral cavity of the subject for a while to allow the absorbent cotton to soak the saliva sufficiently to collect saliva, and then the saliva collected is supplied to the analyzer. And analyze. When supplying the collected saliva to the analyzer, put the absorbent cotton containing saliva into the syringe, squeeze it out with a piston, and supply the filtered saliva to the analyzer, or centrifuge the absorbent cotton containing saliva. A method of applying a separator to analyze the components in the separated saliva is adopted. This type of biological sample collecting and analyzing apparatus is described in Patent Document 1, for example.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-9728

The applicant has proposed a biological sample collector for collecting a biological sample in a short time and easily. This sampler has an absorber placed at the tip to absorb the sample, a rear part of the absorber, a flexible coating part for guiding the sample to the rear sensor part, and an outer periphery of the stick-shaped sampler. It is configured to include a movable tube that slides (JP-A-2016-170033). Furthermore, we have proposed a biological sample sampling device that analyzes the components contained in the biological sample collected by the biological sample sampling device. This biological sample sampling device is a state in which the movable tube of the biological sample sampling device is covered from the outer periphery of the absorber. Then, insert it into the sampling device and apply a load from the top of the movable tube to squeeze the sample from the absorber and send it to the rear sensor part. By connecting one end of the electrode, the sample is collected and analyzed (Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-103645).

By the way, the other end of the inspection unit side electrode connected to the sensor unit side electrode is connected to a processing unit (corresponding to the main body processing unit) incorporated in the biological sample collecting device (for example, calculating the amount of cortisol from the measurement result). Has been done. FIG. 4 shows a method of connecting the main body processing unit (not shown) and the other end of the inspection unit side electrode 23 with the wiring 31. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the flexible wiring 31 is connected to the other end of the inspection unit side electrode 23 by using an adhesive. In this connection method, when the sampler 10 is inserted into the biological sampler, the roller 24 is rotated to lower the inspection unit side electrode 23, and the wiring 31 also follows the movement of the inspection unit side electrode 23. Moving. After that, when the sampler is removed, the roller 24 rotates in the opposite direction, the inspection unit side electrode 23 rises, and the wiring 31 also follows and moves.

As described above, the wiring 31 moves and deforms due to repeated insertion/removal of the biological sample collector, which may cause a load on the connecting portion between the inspection-side electrode 23 and the wiring 31, which may cause a disconnection or the like. .. In addition, since the wiring 31 moves and deforms, it is necessary to secure a sufficient space in the sampling device, which hinders downsizing of the device. Further, the wiring 31 may be moved or deformed to come into contact with other components arranged in the biological sample collecting apparatus, and the apparatus may malfunction. As described above, there is a problem in that the reliability of the sampling device used repeatedly cannot be ensured.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems and provide a biological sample collecting apparatus that is repeatedly used and whose reliability does not deteriorate.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application has a sampling part made of an absorber for absorbing a liquid biological sample at the tip, and a sensor part having an electrode behind the sampling part is arranged. And an inspection unit configured to insert the sample collector into the biological sample so as to squeeze the biological sample from the absorber to the rear sensor unit. In a biological sample collecting device including a rotating body that rotates in association with an inserting operation of the sample collector, and an inspection unit side electrode attached to the rotating body, the sample extractor is inserted into the inspection unit. At this time, one end of the inspection unit side electrode is brought into contact with the sensor unit electrode by the rotation of the rotating body and the other end of the inspection unit side electrode is brought into contact with a connection terminal for connecting to the main body processing unit. To do.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is characterized in that at the other end of the inspection part side electrode, a side surface connected to the connection terminal is notched in a concave shape.

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is characterized in that the connection terminal or one end of the inspection part side electrode is composed of a contact probe.

According to the biological sample collecting apparatus of the present invention, the connection between the main body processing unit and the device side electrode in the biological sample collecting apparatus is not fixed by adhesion, so that the wiring movement/deformation conventionally required is achieved. It does not require a space for, and enables downsizing of the device. In addition, since the stress is not applied to the wiring by eliminating the movement of the wiring, it is possible to improve the reliability of the biological sampling device by eliminating the deterioration of the reliability due to the disconnection of the wiring or the breakage of the bonding part between the wiring and the electrode. Becomes

Further, the electrical connection between the inspection unit side electrode and the main body processing unit is ensured by making the other end of the inspection unit side electrode connected to the connection terminal connected to the main body processing unit a concave shape. It becomes possible to connect. Furthermore, it is preferable to use a contact probe as a connection terminal that is connected to the main body processing unit because more reliable electrical connection can be achieved.

Furthermore, by using the contact probe for the inspection unit side electrode that is in contact with the sensor unit side electrode, the problem of contact failure due to tilting of the sampler and contact failure due to wear and deformation of the inspection unit side electrode when repeatedly used is solved. It is possible and preferable.

It is explanatory drawing of the biological sample sampling apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the sample extractor of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the contact state of the contact probe connected to the inspection part side electrode and main body process part of the Example of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the conventional biological sample collection apparatus.

Examples of the biological sample collecting apparatus of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a biological sample collecting apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a sample collector 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the sample collector 10 has a stick-shaped main body 11, and an absorber (absorbent cotton etc.) 12 and a plastic coating portion 13 covering the rear of the absorber 12 are provided on the tip side. On the rear side of the plastic coating portion 13, a sensor portion 14 is arranged on the substrate via a transportation path (pipe). The sensor unit 14 is provided with a reagent and three sensor unit side electrodes 15.

Further, a plastic movable tube 16 that slides in the axial direction (longitudinal direction) is attached to the outer periphery of the main body 11, and this movable tube 16 exposes the absorber 12 and covers and protects the sensor unit 14 and the like (FIG. 2 (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 2) and a position that covers the absorber 12 and exposes the sensor unit 14 (moves in the left direction in the drawing). In addition, a protrusion (roller operating member) 18 that protrudes to the outside of the main body 11 is provided on the upper side of the sensor unit 14. This protrusion 18 is disposed at the tip of the spring-shaped piece, so that the protrusion 18 is provided inside the movable tube 16. When retracted and the movable tube 16 moves leftward in the drawing, the movable tube 16 projects to the outer periphery of the main body 11.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, in the biological sample collecting device, a table 21 and a diaphragm roller 22 are arranged at a predetermined distance from the table 21, and three spring-shaped electrodes on the inspection section side are arranged. A roller (rotating body) 24 to which 26 is attached is supported by a shaft 25. The roller 24 has a notch 24C. With this configuration, when the sampler 10 is inserted into the biological sampler as shown in FIG. 1, the protrusion 18 of the sampler 10 rotates the roller 24 while engaging with the notch 24C of the roller 24. Let As a result of this rotation, as shown in FIG. 1B, the inspection unit side electrode 26 contacts the sensor unit side electrode 15.

Here, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the inspection unit connection terminal 26A, which is the other end of the inspection unit side electrode 26, is configured to be connected to the connection terminal 29 formed of a contact probe. The connection terminal 29 is connected to the main body processing unit of the biological sample collecting device by a wiring 30. The connection terminal 29 is fixed by a fixing means (not shown) and does not move or deform in the biological sample collecting device. The connection terminal 29 and the wiring 30 may be connected by using a commonly used adhesive material.

The inspection section connection terminal 26A and the connection terminal 29 may be connected in any shape as long as they can be connected. As an example, it is preferable that the side surface of the inspection portion connection terminal 26A has a concave shape into which the tip portion of the connection terminal 29 is inserted, and more preferably a U shape. If it is U-shaped, the inspection section connection terminal 26A and the connection terminal 29 come into contact with each other during the rotation of the roller 24. Further, when the roller 24 rotates, the roller 24 comes into more reliable contact and is electrically connected to the collector processing unit. At this time, if the inspection portion connection terminal 26A is not concave, there is a case where the contact may not be surely made due to displacement of the position due to the impact. Even if the concave shape is used, if the space of the concave portion is narrow, or if the concave shape is V-shaped, the tip of the connection terminal 29 will be fixed inside the V-shape of the inspection portion connection terminal 26A, and will be restored in the contact state. It may disappear. Therefore, it is preferable that the tip of the inspection portion connecting terminal 26A and the tip of the connecting terminal 29 have the same U shape or the connecting terminal has a smaller radius of curvature so that the movement at the time of contact or separation becomes smooth.

On the other hand, it is preferable that the connection terminal 29 is formed of a contact probe so that the tip thereof can be contracted and the impact at the time of contact with the inspection section connection terminal 26A can be mitigated. It is also preferable in that it can surely make contact with the inspection section connection terminal 26A.

The inspection unit side electrode 26 connected to the sensor unit side electrode 15 may be formed by a contact probe. Since the tip of the contact probe is contractible, when the roller 24 rotates when the sample collector 10 is inserted into the biological sample collecting device, the contact probe can be brought into smooth contact with the sensor-side electrode 15 to be connected thereto. Further, since the spring force in the connection terminal 29 pushes it after the connection, a stable electrical connection can be obtained during the analysis.

After the analysis is completed, when the sampler 10 is removed from the biological sampler, the roller 24 rotates in the opposite direction to connect the inspection unit side electrode 26 and the connection terminal 29, the inspection unit side electrode 26 and the sensor unit. The connection between the side electrode 15 and the electrode contact is released, and the electrode can be returned to its original position (FIG. 1A).

As described above, according to this embodiment, the connection terminal 29 does not move, so that the wiring 30 connected to it does not move.

In the above embodiment, the roller 24 was rotated by the engagement operation of the protrusion 18 and the notch 24C, but the rack portion (uneven portion) is provided on the sampler 10 side, and the gear portion (uneven portion) is provided on the roller 24 side, As a mutually fitting structure, the roller 24 may be rotated in association with the insertion of the sampler 10 to connect the inspection unit side electrode 26 to the connection terminal 29 and the sensor unit side electrode 15.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the sampler 10 is removed from the biological sampler, the inspection part side electrode 26 and the connection terminal 29 and the sensor part side electrode 15 are connected while engaging with the rotation of the roller 24. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a disc is attached so as to rotate integrally with the roller 24 (coaxial rotation), and a spring receiving portion having a groove provided in a step portion is formed on the side surface of the disc and returns to the center of the shaft. A spring (coil spring) is arranged, and one end of the return spring is locked to the spring receiving portion and the other end is locked to the base. The return spring causes the rotated roller and disc to return to their original positions. (Not shown).

In addition, although the example of the saliva collecting device for collecting saliva has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention can be applied to a collecting device and an analyzer for collecting biological samples such as blood as well as saliva.

10: sampler, 11: body, 12: absorber, 13: coating part, 14: sensor part, 15: sensor part side electrode, 16: movable tube, 18: projection, 22, 24: roller, 23: inspection Part side electrode, 24C: notch, 26: inspection part side electrode, 26A: inspection part connection terminal, 29: connection terminal, 30, 31: wiring.

Claims (3)

A sample collector having a sampling part made of an absorber for absorbing a liquid biological sample at its tip, and a sensor part having electrodes arranged behind the sampling part ,
By inserting the sample collector, an inspection unit configured to squeeze the biological sample from the absorber to the rear sensor unit is provided, and the inspection unit is inserted with the sample collector. In a biological sample collecting device including a rotating body that rotates in conjunction with an operation and an inspection unit side electrode attached to the rotating body,
When the sampler is inserted into the inspection unit, one end of the inspection unit side electrode is brought into contact with the sensor unit electrode by the rotation of the rotating body and the other end of the inspection unit side electrode is connected to the main body processing unit. A biological sample collecting device, which is in contact with a connecting terminal. The biological sample collecting device according to claim 1, wherein the other end of the inspection-side electrode has a concave side surface that is connected to the connection terminal. 3. The biological sample collecting device according to claim 1, wherein the connection terminal or one end of the inspection unit side electrode is formed of a contact probe.

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