Biological tissue fixing mount device

Abstract

Disclosed is a biological tissue fixing mount device. According to the present invention, provided is a biological tissue fixing mount device for imaging biological tissue, the tissue fixing mount device comprising: a body part; a seating part which is formed as a stepped portion in a central region of the body part and on which biological tissue of an animal being studied is seated; rotatable joint parts having one end rotatably connected to both sides of the body part to adjust the height of the body part with respect to an animal stage plate; and attachment parts that are rotatably coupled to the other end of the rotatable joint parts and attached to the animal stage plate.

Description

Biological tissue fixation mount device

[0001] The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0123032 filed on September 10, 2024, and the entire specification is a reference to the present application.

[0002] The present invention relates to a biological tissue fixation mount device, and more specifically, to a fixation mount device capable of stably fixing biological tissues, such as various organs of a living research animal, and maintaining their physiological state during imaging experiments using a living microscope.

[0003]

[0004] In vivo microscopy is an imaging technology capable of observing dynamic patterns at the cellular level within specific organs of living research animals. In vivo imaging technology automatically acquires images and videos based on various fluorescent signals, stores acquired data in a storage device, and provides post-processing and analysis functions.

[0005] In vivo microscopy is primarily used to image the fluorescent signals of cells of interest within research animals, based on the principles of confocal or two-photon microscopy.

[0006] The biggest challenge in imaging using live-cell microscopy is the difficulty of achieving stable, high-resolution imaging due to the movement of biological tissues of interest caused by the real-time heartbeats and respiration of living research animals. Furthermore, fixing biological tissues is difficult because they vary in size, shape, strength, and location. In particular, biological tissues such as the liver and small intestine exhibit significant movement due to their characteristics and are located relatively deep within the body; therefore, methods to temporarily remove and fix them outside the body are required for accurate imaging. While mounting devices for imaging in vitro tissues or cell cultures have already been developed, there is currently a lack of fixation mounting devices for imaging living biological tissues.

[0007] Conventionally, to fix biological tissue without applying external pressure, devices for stage fixation, such as custom-made silicone blocks and tapes tailored to the size and location of the tissue, are utilized, or methods involving the insertion of gauze soaked in physiological saline to expose tissues located deep within the body are employed. These fixation methods suffer from the difficulty of compensating for tissue movement and the inconvenience of having to fabricate mount blocks specifically suited to the biological tissue each time.

[0008]

[0009] To solve the problems of the aforementioned prior art, the present invention proposes a biological tissue fixation mount device capable of effectively correcting the movement of biological tissue and compensating for tissue diversity in imaging using a biological microscope.

[0010] To achieve another objective of the present invention, the present invention provides a method for imaging biological tissue through the biological tissue fixation mount device comprising the following steps:

[0011] i) A step in which biological tissue is deposited on the deposit site;

[0012] ii) A step of placing gauze soaked in physiological saline on the upper part of the seating portion;

[0013] iii) a step of covering the upper part of the biological tissue with a coverslip; and

[0014] iv) A step of placing a cover glass heating holder on top of the biological tissue to maintain the temperature of the biological tissue.

[0015]

[0016] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, according to one embodiment of the present invention, a tissue fixation mount device for imaging biological tissue is provided, comprising: a body portion; a seating portion formed with a step in the central region of the body portion and on which the biological tissue of a research animal is placed; a rotating joint portion having one end rotatably coupled to both sides of the body portion to adjust the height relative to an animal stage plate; and an attachment portion rotatably coupled to the lower end of the rotating joint portion and attached to the animal stage plate.

[0017] The above fixed mount device may further include a cover glass heating holder positioned on the upper part of the body portion and having a cover slip covering the upper part of the biological tissue located on the seating portion and a heater for maintaining the temperature of the biological tissue.

[0018] The above-mentioned rotating joint can adjust the height between the body part and the animal stage plate by tilting at one of a plurality of angles relative to the body part.

[0019] The above-mentioned rotating joint part may have multiple rotating joints connected to each other.

[0020] The above attachment part may be provided with a magnet attached to the animal stage plate made of metal.

[0021] The above animal stage plate may be equipped with a heater for maintaining the body temperature of the research animal.

[0022] A gauze soaked in physiological saline may be placed beneath the biological tissue placed on the above-mentioned seating portion.

[0023] The present invention also provides a method for imaging biological tissue through the biological tissue fixation mount device comprising the following steps:

[0024] i) A step in which biological tissue is deposited on the deposit site;

[0025] ii) A step of placing gauze soaked in physiological saline on the upper part of the seating portion;

[0026] iii) a step of covering the upper part of the biological tissue with a coverslip; and

[0027] iv) A step of placing a cover glass heating holder on top of the biological tissue to maintain the temperature of the biological tissue.

[0028]

[0029] According to the present invention, the height of the seating portion on which biological tissue is placed on an animal stage plate can be freely adjusted through a rotating joint, and there is an advantage of stably maintaining the biological state through a cover glass heating holder having a heating function.

[0030]

[0031] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a biological tissue fixation mount device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] FIG. 2 is a side view of a tissue fixation mount device according to the first posture of a rotating joint part according to the present embodiment.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a side view of a tissue fixation mount device according to the second posture of a rotating joint part according to the present embodiment.

[0034] Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the usage state of a tissue fixation mount device for imaging the tissues of research animals, such as the small intestine and liver.

[0035]

[0036] The present invention is capable of various modifications and may have various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the invention to specific embodiments, and it should be understood that the invention includes all modifications, equivalents, and substitutions that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

[0037] The terms used herein are merely for describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this specification, terms such as “comprising” or “having” are intended to indicate the presence of the features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof described in the specification, and should be understood as not precluding the existence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, actions, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

[0038] Furthermore, the components of the embodiments described with reference to each drawing are not limited to the respective embodiments and may be implemented to be included in other embodiments within the scope of maintaining the technical spirit of the present invention. It is also obvious that multiple embodiments may be re-implemented as a single embodiment that integrates multiple embodiments, even if a separate description is omitted.

[0039] Furthermore, in the description referring to the attached drawings, identical components are assigned the same or related reference numerals regardless of drawing symbols, and redundant descriptions thereof are omitted. In describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of related prior art could unnecessarily obscure the essence of the present invention, such detailed description is omitted.

[0040]

[0041] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a tissue fixation mount device for imaging biological tissue according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of a tissue fixation mount device according to a first posture of a rotating joint part according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a side view of a tissue fixation mount device according to a second posture of a rotating joint part according to the present embodiment.

[0042] As illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3, the biological tissue fixation mount device (100) according to the present embodiment may include a body part (102), a seating part (104), a rotating joint part (106), and an attachment part (108).

[0043] A step-like seating portion (104) is formed in the central region of the body portion (102), and biological tissue of a research animal is seated in the seating portion (104).

[0044] The biological tissue of the research animal may be the small intestine or the liver, but is not necessarily limited to these.

[0045] Two rotating joints (106) are connected to both sides of the body part (102).

[0046] Two rotating joint parts (106) are rotatably coupled to both sides of the body part (102) and can be coupled to the sides of the body part (102) through hinge pins (110) as shown in the drawing.

[0047] The rotating joint part (106) can have different postures as it is tilted at one of a plurality of angles relative to the body part (102).

[0048] The rotational joint portion (106) may be structured such that a plurality of rotational joints are connected to each other.

[0049] FIGS. 2 and 3 are drawings showing the height difference of the body part (102) when the rotating joint part (106) has different postures.

[0050] Depending on the angle of the rotational joint part (106), the body part (102) is positioned at different heights relative to the animal stage plate (120) described below.

[0051] As described above, one end of the rotating joint part (106) is rotatably connected to the body part (102), and the other end is connected to the attachment part (108). The other end of the rotating joint part (106) and the attachment part (108) are also connected via a hinge pin (110), and the attachment part (108) can be attached in a direction parallel to the animal stage plate (120) even if the position of the rotating joint part (106) changes.

[0052] The attachment portion (108) is a part that is attached to the animal stage plate (120), and preferably, the attachment portion (108) may include a magnet so that it can be attached to the animal stage plate (120) made of metal.

[0053] Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the usage state of a tissue fixation mount device for imaging living tissues of research animals, such as the small intestine and liver.

[0054] Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the body part (102) is positioned at a predetermined height on the animal stage plate according to the angle of the rotational joint part (106) relative to the body part (102), and is fixedly installed on the animal stage plate (120) through the attachment part (108).

[0055] A biological tissue is placed on the mounting portion (104), and a gauze (130) soaked in physiological saline is placed on the upper part of the mounting portion (104). The physiological state of the biological tissue can be stably maintained by the gauze (130).

[0056] According to the present embodiment, a cover glass heating holder (150) is disposed on the upper part of the body part (102), which is equipped with a cover slip (140) that covers the upper part of the biological tissue located in the seating part (104) and a heater (not shown) for maintaining the temperature of the biological tissue.

[0057] By using a cover glass heating holder (150), the biological tissue can be stably fixed and the temperature of the biological tissue can be maintained at a constant level.

[0058] In addition, according to the present embodiment, the animal stage plate (120) is provided to be temperature-controlled, thereby stably maintaining the core body temperature of the research animal, which enables imaging through a living microscope.

[0059] As such, this embodiment enables stable imaging by minimizing the movement of biological tissue for imaging through the mounting portion (104) and the cover glass heating holder (150).

[0060] In addition, a gauze (130) soaked in physiological saline is placed on the upper part of the mounting portion (104) to maintain the body moisture of the biological tissue, and a constant biological state can be maintained during the imaging experiment by maintaining the temperature through the animal stage plate (120) and the cover glass heating holder (150).

[0061] The embodiments of the present invention described above are disclosed for illustrative purposes only, and those skilled in the art with ordinary knowledge of the present invention may make various modifications, changes, and additions within the spirit and scope of the present invention, and such modifications, changes, and additions should be considered to fall within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. As a tissue fixation mount device for imaging biological tissue, Body part; A seating portion formed with a step difference in the central region of the above-mentioned body portion, on which the biological tissue of a research animal is placed; A rotating joint part that is rotatably coupled to both sides of the body part to adjust the height relative to the animal stage plate; and A biological tissue fixation mount device comprising an attachment portion that is rotatably coupled to the other end of the aforementioned rotating joint portion and attached to the animal stage plate.

2. In Paragraph 1, A biological tissue fixation mount device further comprising a cover glass heating holder having a cover slip disposed on the upper part of the body portion and covering the upper part of the biological tissue located on the seating portion, and a heater for maintaining the temperature of the biological tissue.

3. A biological tissue fixation mount device according to claim 1, wherein the rotating joint portion is tilted at one of a plurality of angles with respect to the body portion to adjust the height between the body portion and the animal stage plate.

4. In claim 1, the rotary joint portion is a biological tissue fixation mount device in which a plurality of rotary joints are connected to each other.

5. A biological tissue fixation mount device according to claim 1, wherein the attachment portion comprises a magnet attached to the animal stage plate made of metal.

6. In claim 1, the animal stage plate is a biological tissue fixation mount device equipped with a heater for maintaining the body temperature of the research animal.

7. A biological tissue fixation mount device according to claim 1, wherein gauze soaked in physiological saline is placed on top of the biological tissue placed on the seating portion.

8. A method for imaging biological tissue through the biological tissue fixation mount device of claim 1, comprising the following steps: i) A step in which biological tissue is deposited on the deposit site; ii) A step of placing gauze soaked in physiological saline on the upper part of the seating portion; iii) a step of covering the upper part of the biological tissue with a coverslip; and iv) A method for imaging biological tissue using the biological tissue fixation mount device of claim 1, comprising the step of placing a cover glass heating holder on top of the biological tissue to maintain the temperature of the biological tissue.

Images