Cell culture incubating apparatus and method using the same
AssigneeIndustrial Technology Research Institute
InventorsWen-Tyng Li, Yu-Shi Weng, Ming-Zheng Shiu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A cell incubating apparatus and a method of culturing cells in vitro are disclosed, which relates to medical cell proliferation, pharmaceutical chemical screening and automatic cell analysis in tissue engineering technology. The apparatus establishes an imitating three-dimensional transportation microenvironment by assembling a top plate, a bottom plate and at least one culture plate apparatus for incubating cells. The apparatus is not only for incubating the tissue specific cells with biological function but also for lowering the cost of culturing cells for personal medical use.
Claims19
A cell incubating apparatus, which used with a fluid, comprising:
- a top plate having an input hole;
- a culture plate having a plurality of incubating units, a receiving part, and a plurality of fluid paths;
- wherein the incubating units and the fluid paths are located on at least one surface of the culture plate faced to said top plate, the fluid paths connect to each incubating unit, the receiving part overlapping the input hole of the top plate to receive the fluid from the input hole, and an output hole located in each incubating unit for draining away excessive fluid in the incubating unit;
- and
- a bottom plate for collecting the fluid from the top plate and the culture plate;
- wherein the culture plate is sandwiched between the top plate and the bottom plate as assembled, the fluid flows into the receiving part on the surface of the culture plate from the input hole of the top plate, passes along the fluid path then flows into each incubating unit, and arrives in the bottom plate from each output hole in the incubating units.
A method of incubating a cell in vitro, comprising following steps:
- (A) providing a cell incubating apparatus which comprises:
- a top plate having an input hole;
- a culture plate having a plurality of incubating units, a receiving part, and a fluid path;
- wherein the incubating units and the fluid paths are located on at least one surface of the culture plate faced to said top plate, the fluid paths connect to the incubating units, the receiving part overlapping the input hole of the top plate to receive the fluid from the input hole, the output hole located in each incubating unit for draining away excessive fluid in the incubating unit;
- and
- a bottom plate for collecting the fluid from the top plate and the culture plate;
- wherein the culture plate is sandwiched between the top plate and the bottom plate as assembled, the fluid flows into the receiving part on the surface of the culture plate from the input hole of the top plate, passes along the fluid path then flows into each incubating unit, and arrives in the bottom plate from each output hole in the incubating units;
- (B) coating extracellular matrix to cover the surface of the incubating unit;
- and
- (C) filling in a fluid into the input hole on the top plate, and the fluid flows to the bottom plate by passing the receiving part, the incubating units, the fluid path, and the output hole of the incubating plate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.