Back to results
US 2026/0243676 A1Published application
Method, device, and program for identifying or evaluating bile canaliculus regions
AssigneeHamamatsu Photonics K.K.
InventorsKozo TAKEUCHI, Osamu YASUHIKO
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are: a method for identifying, by using refractive index distribution data of an observation object containing liver cells, bile canaliculus regions included in the observation object; and a method for evaluating the bile canaliculus regions on the basis of bile canaliculus parameters obtained from the refractive index distribution data of the observation object containing the liver cells.
Claims17
1:
- A method for evaluating an observation object containing a hepatocyte, comprising:
- an identification step of identifying a bile canaliculus region included in an observation object by using refractive index distribution data of the observation object containing a hepatocyte;
- and/or
- an evaluation step of evaluating a bile canaliculus region, on the basis of a parameter of a bile canaliculus obtained from refractive index distribution data of an observation object containing a hepatocyte,
- wherein the parameter of the bile canaliculus includes at least one parameter of an area of a cross section perpendicular to an axis of a tubular flow or a cross section seen from a tomographic plane, a refractive index, the number of microvilli, and an average length of microvilli.
2 more elements
2:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the bile canaliculus region is identified on the basis that the region in the observation object has a feature of a bile canaliculus, and the feature of the bile canaliculus includes a feature that the region is an approximately circular or approximately cylindrical region existing between hepatocytes, a feature that a refractive index of the region is lower than a refractive index of hepatocyte, and a feature that a refractive index of a circumferential edge portion of the region is higher than the refractive index of the hepatocyte.
3:
- The method according to claim 2,
- wherein the feature of the bile canaliculus further includes a feature of comprising a region that is derived from a microvillus and has a refractive index higher than a refractive index of the entire region.
4:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the refractive index distribution data is refractive index tomography data in a predetermined direction.
5-15:
- (canceled)
16:
- The method according to claim 2,
- wherein the refractive index distribution data is refractive index tomography data in a predetermined direction.
17:
- The method according to claim 3,
- wherein the refractive index distribution data is refractive index tomography data in a predetermined direction.
18:
- The method according to any one of claim 1,
- wherein the observation object containing the hepatocyte is a cluster of hepatocytes.
19:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the method comprises the identification step.
20:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the method comprises the evaluation step.
21:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the method comprises both the identification step and the evaluation step,
- and wherein the bile canaliculus region evaluated in the evaluation step is identified in the identification step.
22:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the method further comprises a step of cultivating a hepatocyte to obtain the observation object containing a hepatocyte;
- and
- wherein the method is for evaluating a hepatocyte cultivation method.
1 more element
23:
- The method according to claim 1,
- wherein the method further comprises a step of adding a drug to the observation object containing a hepatocyte;
- and
- wherein the method is for drug screening.
1 more element
24:
- A device for evaluating an observation object containing a hepatocyte, comprising:
- a data acquisition unit acquiring refractive index distribution data of an observation object containing a hepatocyte;
- and
- an identification unit identifying a bile canaliculus region included in the observation object in accordance with the identification step according to claim 1.
1 more element
25:
- The device according to claim 24, further comprising:
- an evaluation unit evaluating the bile canaliculus region in accordance with the evaluation step according to claim 1.
26:
- A program for causing a computer to execute:
- a data acquisition step of acquiring refractive index distribution data of an observation object containing a hepatocyte;
- and
- an identification step of identifying a bile canaliculus region included in the observation object by using the refractive index distribution data of the observation object containing a hepatocyte.
1 more element
27:
- The program according to claim 26, for further causing the computer to execute:
- an evaluation step of evaluating the bile canaliculus region, on the basis of a parameter of a bile canaliculus obtained from refractive index distribution data of the observation object containing a hepatocyte,
- wherein the parameter of the bile canaliculus includes at least one parameter of an area of a cross section perpendicular to an axis of a tubular flow or a cross section seen from a tomographic plane, a refractive index, the number of microvilli, and an average length of microvilli.