Apparatus for microscopic observation of long-term culture of single cell
First Claim
1. An apparatus for enabling isolation, long-term culture and observation of a cell, said apparatus comprising:
- a cell culture container having a culture medium exchange region;
a culture medium supplying device that supplies culture medium to said cell culture container;
a substrate coupled to said cell culture container;
a first cell culture region formed in said substrate, said first cell culture region comprising a first hole and being formed to hold one or more cells therein;
a second cell culture region formed in said substrate, said second cell culture region comprising a second hole and being formed to hold one or more cells therein;
a semi-permeable membrane arranged so as to cover said first cell culture region and said second cell culture region; and
a groove formed in said substrate,wherein said groove connects said first cell culture region to said second cell culture region, and serves as a thin passage for a cell such that the cell can pass between said first cell culture region and said second cell culture region, andwherein said culture medium exchange region is disposed above said semi-permeable membrane.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus is provided with a cell culture container having a cell culture region made of a hole formed on a substrate, a semi-permeable membrane covering a top plane of the cell culture region and a culture medium replacement part provided over the semi-permeable membrane, a mechanism for supplying a cell culture medium into the cell culture container, and a microscopic optical mechanism for enabling long-term observation of the cell within the cell culture region. This apparatus makes it possible to culture a cell group originating from a particular single cell, to perform culture and observation while identifying cells to be subjected to interaction during the process of culturing cells, and observe a difference in variation between the particular cell and other cells. There is also provided a mechanism which makes it possible to collect only a cell assuming a particular state and perform analysis or biochemical measurement of a gene of the cell, an expressed mRNA and the like.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. An apparatus for enabling isolation, long-term culture and observation of a cell, said apparatus comprising:
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a cell culture container having a culture medium exchange region; a culture medium supplying device that supplies culture medium to said cell culture container; a substrate coupled to said cell culture container; a first cell culture region formed in said substrate, said first cell culture region comprising a first hole and being formed to hold one or more cells therein; a second cell culture region formed in said substrate, said second cell culture region comprising a second hole and being formed to hold one or more cells therein; a semi-permeable membrane arranged so as to cover said first cell culture region and said second cell culture region; and a groove formed in said substrate, wherein said groove connects said first cell culture region to said second cell culture region, and serves as a thin passage for a cell such that the cell can pass between said first cell culture region and said second cell culture region, and wherein said culture medium exchange region is disposed above said semi-permeable membrane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification