WO1989003038A1 - A method for diagnosis using one or more cells, and apparatus intended therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

The method according to the present invention accelerates known diagnosis methods, as ELISA and (immuno-)staining, by heating samples to be used and controlling the temperature thereof. Preferably this is achieved by microwave radiation.

Description

"A method for diagnosis using one or more cells, and apparatus intended therefore"

More and more, methods for diagnosis, such as iiruminostaining, ELISA, etc. are used in hospitals for obtaining diagnosis of patients.

The present invention has for its object to accelerate such diagnosis methods, such as to be able to obtain results on shorter notice, for instance to be able to have such results available for out-patients.

The present invention is defined by the annexed claim 1. The heating can be obtained by means of hot air, but preferably the heating is achieved by means of microwave radiation inducing heating internally in the sample, which further accelerate the heating and therefore the diagnosis. Further stirring of the samples during treatment can be dispensed with at using microwave radiation.

A thermometer (e.g. using a fibre optic) is expensive and can be dispensed with in a further preferred method (claim 4) and/or a microwave oven according to the sub-claims. Further details, features and advantages of the present invention will be clarified reading the following description, referring to the annexed drawing, in which show:

Fig. 1 a perspective view of a microwave oven in which a blood or sputum sample is placed, Fig. 2 a table provided with cooling means, on which a sample is to be placed,

Fig. 3, 4 and 5 diagrams in which in a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present invention, the temperature was measured as function of time. In a microwave oven 2, provided with a microwave antenna 1, a plate 4 is placed on a table 3. The plate 4 was pre-cooled, e.g. deepfreezed on -20° C. The sample 6, e.g. a drop of sputum, is placed on a synthetic plate 5, such as that microwaves will reach the drop 6. In fig. 2 table 3* is provided with a conduit 7 in which a cooling fluid can be led. Immunostaining can take place in sample 9, received between two plates 8.

By means of the pre-cooled plate 4 (fig. 1, 3).the temperature of a drop of 2,5 ml only rises from about 20° C to about 35° C during a period of four minutes and at supplying a power of 150 Watt to the antenna 1. This rise of temperature is physiologically not harmful to a blood or sputum drop. At lowering the supply power to 80 Watt the temperature in a drop of 2,5 ml (fig. 4) will be more constant, as it also will be more constant at supplying a power of 150 Watt to a drop of 30 ul (fig. 5).

The diagrams of fig. 3, 4 and 5 are measured with thermometers using an optic fibre. The tests were performed in a domestic microwave oven (Miele ^R M696).

The control of temperature can also be achieved by other means, such as a buffer of electrolyte (water) in a microwave oven or a wet sheet of paper. The buffer of electrolyte will receive radiation supplied by the microwave antenna.

The above described embodiment uses a domestic microwave oven. Between the date of priority of this application and filing date thereof, a more sophisticated microwave oven became available, the Bio-Rad H2500 Microwave Processor, in which the temperature can be controlled more easily, by setting the power to be supplied to the antenna and by means of a temperature sensing element.

More details about immunostaining and ELISA etc. including experiments performed, were published by the present inventors in the second edition of their book: Microwave Cookbook of Pathology, ISBN 90-71421-10-4, Leiden, 1988, especially chapters 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 25, 26 of which copies are annexed.

Claims

1. A method for diagnosis using one or more cells in one or more samples, e.g. from blood, sputum or urine, such as (immuno-)staining, ELISA, etc, comprising incubation and washing steps, in which during one or more incubation steps the sample is heated to a temperature above room temperature, and in which this temperature is controlled such as to prevent damage to the sample, due to overheating.

2. Method of claim 1, in which the heating is performed by a microwave radiation.

3. Method of claim 1 or 2, in which the temperature is controlled at the value of substantially 80° C, preferably 50° C or 40° C.

4. Method of claim 1, 2 or 3, in which the sample is placed on a pre-cooled plate in a microwave oven.

5. An apparatus for carrying out the method of one of the claims 1-4, in which a sample has a heat capacity which is large relative to the capacity of the sample and relative to the heating time.

6. A microwave oven for carrying out the method of one of the claims 1-4, in which a sample holder is provided with cooling means.