JPS5839926A - Analyzer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To mix homogeneously even a very small amount of liquid to be tested by applying vibration of a plurality of frequencies to a liquid to be tested mixed a small amount of liquid to be tested with a reagent. CONSTITUTION:A prescribed amount of a reagent 4 is added from a reagent adding nozzle 3 to a palette 2 holding a prescribed amount of blook plasma 1. The palette is transferred horizontally and fixed on a vibrator 5. A controller 6 is set preliminaryly so as to apply the vibration of a plurality of frequencies in successively centering around the resonance frequency of a standard blood plasma for a prescribed time interval, followed by applying the vibration of very low frequencies. The palette 2 is applied the vibration of the set frequencies in the vertical direction by the vibrator 5, and the blood plasma is mixed with the reagent. As the surface profile of the mixture is varied owing to the vibration of the low frequency, said vibration is decreased by the increase of the viscosity basing on the coagulation of the blood plasma. Thus the variation of the viscosity is determined by mesuring the reflected light on the surface of the mixture projected from the projector 7 at a photodetecting part 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for mixing a minute amount of a test liquid and a reagent and measuring the characteristics of the test liquid.

Most analyzers that measure the characteristics of test liquids add a predetermined amount of reagent to the test liquid, mix the mixture, and measure this mixture. Regarding the mixing of the test liquid and reagent Q, if the mixture has a large component, it can be easily mixed by conventional mixing means such as mechanical stirring or stirring by blowing gas. However, even in a blood test, where the sample liquid is a minute amount and a reagent is added to it, the amount is several hundred μ. It is extremely difficult to uniformly mix small amounts of these substances using conventional mixing means.

This discovery was made as a result of various studies to solve these difficulties, and the test solution and reagent mixture can be as small as 100μ! The purpose of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that can easily and uniformly mix even small amounts and is suitable for blood analysis.

That is, the present invention provides an apparatus for mixing a small amount of a test liquid and a reagent and measuring the characteristics of the test liquid, which is provided with a mixing means for applying vibrations of a plurality of frequencies to the test liquid to which the reagent has been added. It is an analytical device that measures the percentage.

According to the present invention: 1. Since it is a mixing means that applies vibrations of a plurality of frequencies, the structure is simple, and it is possible to analyze a minute amount of sample liquid, and the apparatus can be simplified and miniaturized.

The test liquid in the present invention is not particularly limited, and the test liquid to which a reagent has been added is strained and has a reagent added thereto. In the present invention, the vibration of the mixing means is preferably centered around the resonance frequency of the test liquid to which only the reagent is added, and includes a frequency slightly smaller than the resonant frequency and a frequency slightly larger than the resonance frequency. When analyzing a plurality of test liquids, this resonant frequency is co-photographed with any nine frequencies of the mixing means and uniformly mixed even if the resonant frequency differs slightly depending on the test liquid. Such vibrations may be applied using a combination of the above-mentioned plurality of frequencies, or vibrations having frequencies close to the above-mentioned frequencies may be sequentially applied.

The following description will be made based on the drawings. FIG. 1 is an example of an apparatus according to the present invention that automatically measures each coagulation time of a plurality of plasmas. In this device, although not shown in the figure, a pallet 2 holding a predetermined amount of plasma 1 is transported horizontally and stops below a reagent addition nozzle 8, from which a predetermined amount of reagent 4 is deposited onto the plasma. added. These reagents and plasma are held by the surface tension of the convexity provided in the center of the pallet. The pallet is then transported further horizontally and fixed on the vibrating device 5. This vibration device vibrates the pallet in the vertical direction, and the vibration time and frequency are adjusted by a regulator 6. To this regulator, vibrations at multiple frequencies before and after the resonance frequency of standard plasma to which reagent 4 has been added are sequentially applied for a predetermined period of time, and then vibrations at frequencies much lower than these are applied. It is stored in advance to do so. As soon as the pallet is secured, the vibrator sequentially vibrates at this stored frequency to mix up the plasma and reagent, followed by a low frequency vibration. This low frequency vibration causes a change in the surface topography of the reagent-plasma mixture, but this change is reduced by the increase in viscosity due to coagulation of the plasma. This viscosity change is detected as a change in the light receiving section 8 which receives the light projected by the light projecting section 7 provided above and reflected from the surface of the mixture. This apparatus is particularly preferable because the vibrating device used for measurement can also be used as a mixing means, so the apparatus can be simplified accordingly.

Example Using an apparatus as shown in Fig. 1, 60 μl of reagent was added to a pallet holding 80 μl of plasma, the pallet was fixed to a vibration device, and frequencies of 288H2, 250H2, 270H were added.
Vibrations of H2, 286H2, 807" + 889'H2 were applied sequentially for 1 second each. Next, vibrations of 1QHz were applied, and the coagulation time was measured from the change in the amount of light received.

As a result of measuring the same blood 20 times, the CV value for the average clotting time was L5.

In addition, similar experiments were conducted on other plasmas with a few different types, and the CV value for the clotting time was L5. this,
Based on their results, it was found that this device was able to mix the reagent and plasma sufficiently.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the device according to the invention. 1・・・・・・・・・・・・Plasma 2・・・・・・・・・・・・ Palette 4・・・・・・
・・・・・・Reagent '6・・・・・・・・・・・・
vibration device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] L In an apparatus for mixing a trace amount of a test liquid and a reagent and measuring the characteristics of the test liquid, a mixing means for applying vibrations of a plurality of frequencies to the test liquid to which the reagent has been added is provided. An analysis device characterized by: 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mixing means sequentially applies a plurality of vibrations having different frequencies to the mixture.