Method and apparatus for automated classification and analysis of cells
AssigneeMed-El Inc.
InventorsJerome B. Resnick, John W. Combs
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Cells are automatically classified and analyzed by staining a measured amount of a specimen with a material which is adapted to fluoresce when illuminated; preparing a slide containing the stained specimen; illuminating the slide with light of successively changing wavelengths to measure the presence of the fluorescent response at each of the predetermined wavelengths to determine the constituents of the specimen. The detected constituents are automatically focused and scanned by a microscope having a capability of locating the constituent of interest, determining its size, shape and texture to thereby provide information as to the type, count and the like to enable a detailed analysis of the specimen.
Claims15
A method for analyzing blood cell types in a specimen of cells emplaced upon a slide in a non-over-lapping fashion and stained with fluorescent material comprising the steps of:
- illuminating a cell with light of a first wavelength;
- scanning said cell in a point by point fashion to determine the amplitudes of fluorescing nuclear material DNA at a second wavelength;
- summing said amplitudes to determine the amount of DNA material in said cell;
- rescanning the cell in a point by point fashion to determine the amplitudes of fluorescing cytoplasmic material RNA at a third wavelength;
- summing the amplitudes to determine the amount of RNA material in said cell, forming a ratio of said summed amplitudes and, comparing said ratio against stored predetermined values to determine cell type.
A method for analyzing red blood cells that absorb light by means of a slide provided with a reflective region on one of its surfaces comprising the steps of:
- depositing a specimen including said red blood cells upon at least a portion of the reflective region so that said cells are uniformly distributed in a manner proportional to the total number of cells in the specimen:
- imaging light reflected by said reflective surface upon detector means;
- utilizing said slide and detector means to scan in a point by point manner a precisely controlled region of the specimen overlaying the reflective area
- measuring the intensity of reflected light from portions of said controlled region devoid of said cells relative to the reduced intensity of reflected light from portions of said controlled region containing said cells due to the double absorption of direct and reflected light by said cells, and counting the number of said cells indicated by the number of changes in the relative intensity measurements in the precisely controlled region.
Apparatus for detecting cells in a sample specimen of cellular material stained with material that fluoresces comprising:
- means for illuminating said cellular material with light of a predetermined wavelength,
- means for scanning said cellular material in a point by point fashion to detect emitted light from said stained cellular material to determine a first set of amplitudes of fluorescent light emanating from stained substantially DNA material,
- means for rescanning said cellular material in a point by point fashion to determine a second set of amplitudes of fluorescent light emanating from stained cytoplasmic substantially RNA material,
- means for summing said first and second sets of amplitudes separately to determine the amount of DNA and RNA material respectively in said cellular material and,
- means for forming a ratio of said summations to determine the cell type of said cellular material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.