Microscopic Cell Observation and Inspection System Using a Plurality of Observation Methods
First Claim
1. A microscopic observation and inspection system using a plurality of observation methods, characterized by comprising a total internal reflection sample illuminator comprising an evanescent wave-generation light source in which laser light from that light source is introduced into a slide glass through which the laser light is guided by multiple total internal reflections to generate evanescent waves on an upper surface of said slide glass so that a cell sample placed on the upper surface of said slide glass is illuminated with said evanescent waves, wherein:
- a microscope objective lens is located at a position where said slide glass in said total internal reflection sample illuminator is supposed to be placed thereon and in a vertical direction to said slide glass,on an imaging side of said microscope objective lens, an imaging optical system and an imaging device are located in one optical path via an optical path splitter and an excitation light source for a drop fluorescence microscope is located in another optical path,shutter units adapted to block off or transmit illumination light are located, one in an optical path from said evanescent wave-generation light source to a laser light inlet of said slide glass, and another between said excitation light source for a drop fluorescence microscope and said optical path splitter,there is a controller provided which controls an illumination light source switchover by opening or closing each of said shutter units and slide glass position adjustment by said slide glass position adjustment mechanism, andin response to a command from said controller, the opening or closing of each of said shutter units is controlled so that an illumination light optical path for said evanescent wave-generation light source and an illumination light optical path for said excitation light source for a drop fluorescence microscope are selectively opened, a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope image and a drop fluorescence microscope image at the selected cell sample observation and inspection site on said slide glass are captured in said controller via said imaging device, and cell reactions are detected from said total internal reflection fluorescence microscope image and said drop fluorescence microscope image.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a microscopic cell observation and inspection system that uses a total internal reflection cell illuminator that is capable of freely changing an observation position without recourse to any special slide glass, makes sure high SN-ratio observation and facilitates sample manipulation, thereby making high-sensitivity, fast detection of a lot of cell reactions on the same slide glass. While, in response to a command from personal computer (80), step motors (53, 54) are driven to sequentially scan observation positions of cell sample (S) on slide glass (21), one of shutter units (71) and (72) is closed and the other is opened at high speed, whereby either one of illumination optical paths for a TIRF microscope and a drop fluorescence microscope is selected to illuminate cell sample (S) on that observation position. When the drop fluorescence microscope is chosen, filter unit (66) is driven to choose the wavelength of excitation light from drop fluorescence illumination light source (65), so that observation and inspection of cell sample (S) under the TIRF microscope and drop fluorescence microscope can be implemented in an alternate fast switchover way.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A microscopic observation and inspection system using a plurality of observation methods, characterized by comprising a total internal reflection sample illuminator comprising an evanescent wave-generation light source in which laser light from that light source is introduced into a slide glass through which the laser light is guided by multiple total internal reflections to generate evanescent waves on an upper surface of said slide glass so that a cell sample placed on the upper surface of said slide glass is illuminated with said evanescent waves, wherein:
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a microscope objective lens is located at a position where said slide glass in said total internal reflection sample illuminator is supposed to be placed thereon and in a vertical direction to said slide glass, on an imaging side of said microscope objective lens, an imaging optical system and an imaging device are located in one optical path via an optical path splitter and an excitation light source for a drop fluorescence microscope is located in another optical path, shutter units adapted to block off or transmit illumination light are located, one in an optical path from said evanescent wave-generation light source to a laser light inlet of said slide glass, and another between said excitation light source for a drop fluorescence microscope and said optical path splitter, there is a controller provided which controls an illumination light source switchover by opening or closing each of said shutter units and slide glass position adjustment by said slide glass position adjustment mechanism, and in response to a command from said controller, the opening or closing of each of said shutter units is controlled so that an illumination light optical path for said evanescent wave-generation light source and an illumination light optical path for said excitation light source for a drop fluorescence microscope are selectively opened, a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope image and a drop fluorescence microscope image at the selected cell sample observation and inspection site on said slide glass are captured in said controller via said imaging device, and cell reactions are detected from said total internal reflection fluorescence microscope image and said drop fluorescence microscope image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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5. A microscopic observation and inspection system using a plurality of observation methods, characterized by comprising a total internal reflection sample illuminator comprising an evanescent wave-generation light source in which laser light from that light source is introduced into a slide glass through which the laser light is guided by multiple total internal reflections to generate evanescent waves on an upper surface of said slide glass so that a cell sample placed on the upper surface of said slide glass is illuminated with said evanescent waves, wherein:
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a microscope objective lens is located at a position where said slide glass in said total internal reflection sample illuminator is supposed to be placed thereon and in a vertical direction to said slide glass, on an imaging side of said microscope objective lens, a filter for blocking off light having a wavelength of illumination light from said evanescent wave-generation light source, a first imaging optical system and a first imaging device are located in one optical path via an optical path splitter, and a confocal scanner for a confocal fluorescence microscope is located in another optical path, on an illumination side of said confocal scanner an excitation light source for the confocal fluorescence microscope is located, and on an output side of said confocal scanner a second imaging system and a second imaging device are located, shutter units adapted to block off or transmit illumination light or fluorescent light are located, one in an optical path from said evanescent wave-generation light source to a laser light inlet of said slide glass, another in an optical path between said confocal scanner and said optical path splitter, and yet another in an optical path between said optical path splitter and said first imaging device, there is a controller provided which controls an illumination light source switchover by opening or closing each of said shutter units, and a focus adjustment mechanism adapted to adjust a position of said microscope objective lens in an optical axis direction, and in response to a command from said controller, the opening or closing of each of said shutter units is controlled so that an illumination light optical path for said evanescent wave-generation light source and an illumination light optical path for a confocal scanner for said drop fluorescence microscope are selectively opened, and when the illumination optical path for the confocal scanner for said confocal fluorescence microscope is opened, said focus adjustment mechanism is controlled to adjust a position of said microscope objective lens in an optical axis direction to a plurality of given positions, whereby a total internal reflection fluorescence microscope image and a confocal fluorescence microscope image at the selected cell sample observation and inspection position on said slide glass are captured in said controller vial said first imaging device and said second imaging device, respectively, so that cell reactions are detected from said total internal reflection fluorescence microscope image and said confocal fluorescence microscope image. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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Specification