A cell culture plate

Abstract

This invention provides a cell culture plate, belonging to the technical field of biological experimental equipment. It solves the problem of rapid water evaporation in existing cell culture plates. The cell culture plate includes a plate body with several culture wells and a cover plate covering the plate body. The outer edge of the plate body has annular grooves that are recessed downwards and surround the culture wells. The edge of the cover plate has annular edges extending downwards and annular protrusions located inside the annular edges that bulge downwards. An annular recess is formed between the annular edges and the annular protrusions. The annular protrusions are embedded in the annular grooves, and the outer wall of the annular grooves is embedded in the annular recess. The annular protrusions, the groove walls of the annular grooves, and the walls of the annular recesses together form a tortuous air passage connecting to the culture wells. This design has the advantage of better reducing or inhibiting water evaporation from the culture wells of the cell culture plate.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model belongs to the field of biological experimental equipment technology, and relates to a cell culture plate. Background Technology

[0002] Cell culture is a crucial step in cell biology and molecular biology experiments, and cell culture plates are the most commonly used containers for cell culture. For example, Chinese patent literature discloses a membrane-sealed multi-well culture plate (application number: 202020184038.X), comprising an outer frame and several wells. The outer frame and the wells are integrally formed during manufacturing. The number of wells can be any one of 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 384, or 1536 wells. Multiple reinforcing ribs are provided between the outer frame and the corresponding wells, and these ribs are integrally formed with the outer frame and the wells during manufacturing. The outer frame can be rectangular, circular, elliptical, or polygonal in shape.

[0003] When these membrane-sealed multi-well culture plates, as well as ordinary multi-well plates such as 6-well or 12-well plates and similar plates, are used for shaking culture of cells in a shaker, the water evaporates quickly, which is not conducive to long-term cell culture. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to address the aforementioned problems in existing technologies by proposing a cell culture plate. The technical problem this invention aims to solve is how to better reduce or inhibit the evaporation of water from the culture wells of the cell culture plate.

[0005] The objective of this utility model can be achieved through the following technical solutions:

[0006] A cell culture plate includes a plate body having a plurality of culture wells and a cover plate covering the plate body. The plate body has annular grooves circumferentially surrounding the plurality of culture wells and recessed downwards. The cover plate has annular edge portions extending downwards and annular protrusions located inside the annular edge portions and protruding downwards. Annular recesses are formed between the annular edge portions and the annular protrusions. The annular protrusions are embedded in the annular grooves, and the outer wall of the annular grooves is embedded in the annular recesses. The annular protrusions, the groove wall of the annular grooves, and the wall of the annular recesses together form a tortuous air passage connecting to the culture wells.

[0007] This cell culture plate forms a multi-twist ventilation channel connecting the culture wells and the ventilation gaps through the walls of the annular protrusions and annular grooves, as well as the walls of the annular protrusions and annular recesses. This multi-twist ventilation channel reduces airflow during air exchange between the outside and the culture wells inside the plate. Compared to ordinary multi-well plates, the gas exchange rate of this multi-twist ventilation channel is slower, thus better reducing or inhibiting the evaporation of moisture from the culture wells of the cell culture plate.

[0008] In the aforementioned cell culture plate, the outer edge of the plate has an annular stepped portion surrounding the annular groove. A ventilated gap is formed between the lower end face of the annular edge and the stepped surface of the annular stepped portion, connecting the ventilated channel to the outside. The small spacing of the ventilated gap reduces airflow during air exchange between the outside and the culture wells inside the plate. Furthermore, the multi-bend design of the ventilated channel slows down the gas exchange rate compared to ordinary multi-well plates, thus better reducing or inhibiting water evaporation from the culture wells and lowering the risk of cell contamination by external bacteria, fungi, etc.

[0009] In the aforementioned cell culture plate, the distance between the inner top wall of the cover plate and the top wall of the plate body is greater than the distance between the groove walls of the annular protrusion and the annular groove. This ensures unimpeded gas exchange between the inside and outside of the cell culture plate. It should be noted that the distance between the inner top wall of the cover plate and the top wall of the plate body, as well as the distance between the groove walls of the annular protrusion and the annular groove, can be formed by minor irregular deformation during the plastic product manufacturing process. Alternatively, small protrusions can be provided at the top of the annular protrusion or the bottom of the annular groove to prevent complete contact and create a gap. It is precisely because of these gaps that gas exchange between the inside and outside of the cell culture plate proceeds smoothly.

[0010] In the aforementioned cell culture plate, the distance between the bottom wall of the annular recess and the top wall of the annular groove is greater than the distance between the remaining wall surfaces of the two. This ensures unimpeded gas exchange between the inside and outside of the cell culture plate.

[0011] In the aforementioned cell culture plate, the cover plate has several upwardly recessed portions, each corresponding vertically to a culture well. The cross-sectional shape of the recessed portion matches the cross-sectional shape of the culture well. The remaining portion of the cover plate forms a blocking portion that protrudes relative to the recessed portions. This prevents liquid from mixing within different culture wells, thereby ensuring the reliability of the experimental results.

[0012] Compared with existing technologies, the advantages of this cell culture plate are as follows: the cell culture plate forms a tortuous air passage that connects to the culture wells through the annular protrusions, the groove walls of the annular grooves, and the walls of the annular recesses. This allows for smooth gas exchange between the inside and outside of the cell culture plate. At the same time, the gas exchange speed of the tortuous gas exchange passages is slower than that of ordinary multi-well plates, which can better reduce the evaporation of water in the culture wells of the cell culture plate. Attached Figure Description

[0013] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of this cell culture plate.

[0014] Figure 2 This is a top view of the structure of this cell culture plate.

[0015] Figure 3 yes Figure 2 Sectional view at point AA.

[0016] Figure 4 yes Figure 3 A magnified view of a portion of point A in the middle.

[0017] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the cover plate of this cell culture plate viewed from below.

[0018] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the three-dimensional structure of the cell culture plate after the cover plate has been removed.

[0019] Figure 7 This is a side view of the structure of the cell culture plate.

[0020] Figure 8 yes Figure 7 Sectional view at point BB.

[0021] Figure 9 This is a partial structural schematic diagram of the cell culture plate in Example 3.

[0022] In the figure, 1 is the plate body; 1a is the culture well; 1b is the annular groove; 1c is the annular step; 2 is the cover plate; 2a is the annular protrusion; 2b is the annular edge; 2c is the annular recess; 2d is the recessed part; 2e is the blocking part; 3 is the air passage; 4 is the air gap. Detailed Implementation

[0023] The following are specific embodiments of the present invention, which are described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

[0024] Example 1

[0025] A cell culture plate, as described Figure 1-8The device includes a plate 1 with several culture holes 1a and a cover plate 2 covering the plate 1. The outer edge of the plate 1 has an annular groove 1b that surrounds several culture holes 1a and is recessed downward. The edge of the cover plate 2 has an annular edge portion 2b that extends downward and an annular protrusion 2a that is located inside the annular edge portion 2b and protrudes downward. An annular recess 2c is formed between the annular edge portion 2b and the annular protrusion 2a. The annular protrusion 2a is embedded in the annular groove 1b. The outer wall of the annular groove 1b is embedded in the annular recess 2c. The annular protrusion 2a, the groove wall of the annular groove 1b, and the wall of the annular recess 2c together form a tortuous air passage 3 that connects to the culture holes 1a. It should be noted that the venting gap 4 is naturally formed by irregular deformation during the injection molding process, or by adding some small protrusions to the lower end face of the annular edge 2b or the step surface of the annular step 1c so that the two come into contact and form the venting gap 4.

[0026] Furthermore, referring to Figure 3 and Figure 4 The outer edge of the plate 1 has an annular step portion 1c surrounding the annular groove 1b, and a ventilation channel 3 and an ventilation gap 6 connecting the lower end face of the annular edge portion 2b and the step surface of the annular step portion 1c are formed.

[0027] Furthermore, referring to Figure 5 and Figure 8 The cover plate 2 has a plurality of recessed portions 2d that are recessed upwards. The recessed portions 2d correspond one-to-one with the positions of the culture holes 1a. The cross-sectional shape of the recessed portions 2d matches the cross-sectional shape of the culture holes 1a. The remaining parts of the cover plate 2 form blocking portions 2e that protrude relative to the recessed portions 2d.

[0028] In this embodiment, the distance between the inner top wall of the cover plate 2 and the top wall of the plate body 1 is greater than the distance between the groove walls of the annular protrusion 2a and the annular groove 1b; the distance between the bottom wall of the annular recess 2c and the top of the outer groove wall of the annular groove 1b is greater than the distance between the other walls of the two.

[0029] The cell culture plate body 1 and cover plate 2 described in this embodiment are generally made of transparent materials, such as polystyrene. When used for cell culture, they can be sterilized by irradiation or other methods. The cell culture plate body 1 is generally produced by injection molding, but it can also be formed by using an outer frame and multiple inserts, like some enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) multi-well plates.

[0030] It should be noted that the contact between the plate 1 and the cover plate 2 only needs to have one point of contact. For example, a protrusion can be provided on the lower end face of the annular edge 2b or the step surface of the annular step 1c, so that the protrusion abuts against the lower end face of the annular edge 2b or the step surface of the annular step 1c, while the rest of the lower end face of the annular edge 2b and the step surface of the annular step 1c do not abut. Alternatively, a small amount of irregular deformation during the plastic product manufacturing process can naturally form a structure in which the lower end face of the annular edge 2b or the step surface of the annular step 1c abuts, thus forming a ventilation channel 3. Or, a gap can be left by designing the dimensions of the plate 1 and the cover plate 2 to form a ventilation channel 3.

[0031] Example 2

[0032] This embodiment is basically the same in structure and principle as Embodiment 1. The difference is that, according to actual usage requirements, this embodiment does not provide an annular step portion 1c (not shown in the figure) on the outer side of the plate 1. That is, the annular edge portion 2b of the cover plate 2 covers the outer side of the plate 1, and the ventilation channel 3 opens directly downwards. Without providing the annular step portion 1c, a protrusion can be provided on the path of the ventilation channel 3 so that the plate 1 and the cover plate 2 partially abut against each other without blocking the ventilation channel 3, thereby preserving breathability.

[0033] Example 3

[0034] This embodiment is basically the same in structure and principle as Embodiment 1, the difference being that, referring to... Figure 9 The culture wells distributed on plate 1 are ordinary round wells arranged in rows and columns. The bottom of the culture wells is a normal flat bottom, but it can also be a U-shaped bottom or a round bottom (not shown in the figure).

[0035] The specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative examples illustrating the spirit of this utility model. Those skilled in the art to which this utility model pertains may make various modifications or additions to the described specific embodiments or use similar methods to substitute them, without departing from the spirit of this utility model or exceeding the scope defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A cell culture plate, comprising a plate body (1) having a plurality of culture wells (1a) and a cover plate (2) covering the plate body (1), characterized in that, The outer edge of the plate (1) has an annular groove (1b) that surrounds a plurality of culture holes (1a) and is recessed downward. The edge of the cover plate (2) has an annular edge portion (2b) that extends downward and an annular protrusion (2a) that is located inside the annular edge portion (2b) and protrudes downward. An annular recess (2c) is formed between the annular edge portion (2b) and the annular protrusion (2a). The annular protrusion (2a) is embedded in the annular groove (1b). The outer wall of the annular groove (1b) is embedded in the annular recess (2c). The annular protrusion (2a), the groove wall of the annular groove (1b), and the wall of the annular recess (2c) together form a permeable channel (3) that connects to the culture hole (1a) and is arranged in a tortuous manner.

2. The cell culture plate according to claim 1, characterized in that, The outer edge of the plate (1) has an annular step portion (1c) surrounding the annular groove (1b), and a ventilation gap (4) connecting the ventilation channel (3) and the outside is formed between the lower end face of the annular edge portion (2b) and the step surface of the annular step portion (1c).

3. A cell culture plate according to claim 1, characterized in that, The distance between the inner top wall of the cover plate (2) and the top wall of the plate body (1) is greater than the distance between the groove walls of the annular protrusion (2a) and the annular groove (1b).

4. A cell culture plate according to claim 2, characterized in that, The distance between the bottom wall of the annular recess (2c) and the top of the outer groove wall of the annular groove (1b) is greater than the distance between the other walls of the two.

5. A cell culture plate according to claim 1, 2, 3, or 4, characterized in that, The cover plate (2) has a plurality of recessed portions (2d) that are recessed upwards. The recessed portions (2d) correspond one-to-one with the culture holes (1a). The cross-sectional shape of the recessed portions (2d) matches the cross-sectional shape of the culture holes (1a). The remaining parts of the cover plate (2) form blocking portions (2e) that protrude relative to the recessed portions (2d).

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