Automated Staining and Decolorization of Biological Material

Abstract

An improved method and apparatus for staining samples of biological material for accurate analysis of the sample. Biological material is applied to a substrate, such as a microscope slide. The biological specimen is then stained with a selected staining composition, which may be gentian violet for a Gram's Stain analysis. The stained biological material is at least partially decolorized and the level of decolorization is analyzed optically. If necessary, the decolorizing step and the optical analysis steps are repeated until a selected level of decolorization is obtained.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is a continuation application which claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 274,613, filed Oct. 21, 2002, entitled AUTOMATED STAINING AND DECOLORIZATION OF BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL, which is a divisional of U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,764, issued Oct. 22, 2002, which claimed priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 116,485, filed Jan. 20, 1999, all of the same title and inventors.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for the diagnostic staining of biological material. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for staining biological material on microscope slides in an automated fashion.[0004]2. Background and Summary of Prior Art[0005]Biological material, whether viruses, bacteria, or various smears or samples of blood, mucus, and the like, have been analyzed for centuries, since Van Leeuvenhoek invent...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

Enables accurate and automated slide preparation for analysis by ensuring proper decolorization without human intervention, reducing the risk of false results and improving the reliability of staining processes like the Gram's Stain.

Problems solved by technology

Several steps have been made toward automating these processes, but it seems unlikely that the skilled human technician will be almost entirely removed from the process in the foreseeable future.

Decolorization is critical to the Gram's Stain because too little decolorization can yield false Gram positives and too much decolorization can yield false Gram negatives.

Several past attempts at providing automating the slide preparation and staining process have met with limited success.

The time / volume control of decolorization is insufficient to accurately decolorize a Gram Stain.

Nevertheless, the Quick Slide® device is not capable of accurately decolorizing slides for a staining process such as the Gram's Stain.

These inventions do not address the decolorization issue because it seems that decolorization is less important (or unimportant) where flourescent dyes or stains are used in lieu of the conventional Gram's Stain of gentian violet.

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