Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~ S34 1 82
The present invention relates to a tissue culture
flask for tissue culture, from which a cultured tissue can
be recovered by a rod-like recovering means.
Tissue culture flasks are used to culture cells,
tissues, organs and so on in vitro. Tissue culture flasks
which can be stacked and which are of as small a size as
possible are required for convenience in maintenance.
This invention can be more fully understood from
the following detailed description when taken in conjunction
with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figs. 1 to 3 show a structure of a conventional
tissue culture flask, in which:
Fig. 1 is a left-side view; Fig. 2 is a bottom view;
and Fig. 3 is a front view.
Figs. 4 to 8 show an embodiment of the present
invention, in which:
Fig. 4 is a plan view; Fig. 5 is a left-side view;
Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI - VI of
Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a bottom view; and Fig. 8 is a front view.
Figs. 9 to 11 show another embodiment of the present
invention, in which:
Fig. 9 is a left-side view; Fig. 10 is a bottom view;
and Fig. 11 is a front view.
Figs. 12 to 14 show another embodiment of the present
invention, in which:
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Fig. 12 is a left-side view; Fig. 13 is a bottom
view; and Fig. 14 i~ a front view.
As shown in Figs. 1 to 3, conventional tissue
culture flask 10 consists of container main body 2 and neck
3. Main body 2 is a box having flat bottom surface 21 and
a substantially rectangular-parallelepiped interior. Front
side surface 22 of main body 2 consists of inclined low sur-
face 221 contiguous with surface 21, oblique side surfaces
222 and 223 contiguous with right-side surface 23 and left-side
surface 24, respectively, and major surface 224 contiguous
with surfaces 221, 222 and 223 and located at the front-most
portion of main body 2. Neck 3 having container port 35 is
integrally formed with surface 224 of surface 22 of main body
2 and extends obliquely upward with respect to surface 21.
In conventional flask 10, a distal end of pipette
P or a scraper cannot reach the inner edge of surface 21 at
a side of port 35 (see Fig. 2). Therefore, not all the cells
attached to surface 21 in the inner surface of flask 10 can
be recovered from port 35. That is, cells
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1334182
- in some area (hatched portion in Fig. 2) cannot be
removed, resulting in inconvenience.
The present invention has been made in view of
the above situation and has as its major object to
provide a tissue culture flask having a shape that
allows a distal end of a pipette or a scraper inserted
from its container port to reach its entire bottom
surface area.
The tissue culture flask of the present
invention comprises a container main body comprising a
box having a bottom surface for supporting a substance
to be cultured, a front side surface, a rear side
surface, a right side surface, a left side surface, and
an upper surface, and a hollow cylindrical neck provided
on the front side surface of the container main body to
communicate with the interior of the container main
body, extending obliquely upward with respect to the
bottom surface and defining a first opening at a first
end located away from the container main body and a
second opening at an end opposite the first end. In the
flask, a first angle is defined by a first straight line
connecting any given point on an edge of the bottom
surface and a given point on an edge of the first
opening and a second straight line on an inner
circumferential wall of the neck and connecting the
given point on an edge of the first opening and a given
point on an edge of the second opening. This first
angle is not greater than a second angle defined by the
second straight line and the longest third straight line
connecting the given point on an edge of the first
opening
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13~4182
and a given point on an edge of the second opening. The
bottom surface has a shape with n corners wherein n is
an integer and n 2 5. The front side surface comprises
n - 3 inclined lower surfaces, each being contiguous
with a front edge of the bottom surface, two inclined
side surfaces being contiguous with the right side
surface and the left side surface, respectively, and an
additional surface being contiguous with the neck.
Thus, a linear rod-like member inserted in the container
main body from the neck can reach any point on the
bottom surface of the container main body (including its
edge).
The structure of the flask of the present
invention will be described in detail with reference to
the
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accompanying drawings. 1 3~4 1 8 2
Figs. 4 to 8 show a first embodiment of the present
nventlon .
Referring to Figs. 4 to 8, container main body 2 of
tissue culture flask 1 consists of bottom surface 21,
normally flat right- and left-side surfaces 23 and 24,
upper surface 25, rear side surface 26 and front side
surface 22. A side of surface 21 facing the interior of
main body 2 is a flat surface.
A space at a rear portion of the container defined
by surfaces 21, 23, 24, 25 and 26 preferably has a sub-
stantially rectangular parallelpiped shape, as shown in
the drawings. With this shape, flasks 1 can be stacked,
can have a small size, and can minimize an error between
a required amount of culture medium to be supplied and
the amount of the medium actually supplied.
Surface 21 must be flat since it carries the
culture medium contained in flask 1. Alternatively,
surface 21 preferably has a polygonal shape defined by
substantially linear lines with round corners. With
such a structure, the area defined by surface 21 can be
correctly determined, resulting in accurate culturing.
Since the rear portion of surface 21 has a -shape,
surface 21 normally has five or more corners and is
preferably a hexagon, as shown in Fig. 7.
Since bottom surface 21 of a conventional flask has
a rectangular shape (see Fig. 2), a pipette inserted
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from container port 35 cannot reach either of the two
front corners of surface 21. However, if the two cor-
ners are cut so that surface 21 is a pentagon or a poly-
gon having 5 or more corners (preferably a hexagon),
when the interior of main body 2 is viewed from port 35
in varying directions by a human eye, all of the edges
of surface 21 can be visually observed through port 35,
thereby allowing the pipette or the like to easily reach
all fillet portions.
When surface 21 is a polygon having five or more
corners, front side surface 22 preferably consists of an
oblique side surface, an inclined lower surface, and a
major surface contiguous with neck 3, extending oblique-
ly upward with respect to surface 22.
In Fig. 7, surface 21 is a hexagon. Accordingly,
surface 22 consists of three inclined lower surfaces
225, 226 and 227 contiguous with front linear edge of
surface 21, major surface 224, and with each other, and
two oblique side surfaces 222 and 223. Surface 222 is
contiguous with surfaces 225, 24, 21 and 224. Surface
223 is contiguous with surfaces 227, 23, 21 and 224.
In this case, it is apparent that inclined lower
surfaces can be provided in accordance with the number
of sides in the polygon formed by the bottom surface.
When the number of sides of the polygon is n (n _ 5),
the number of the inclined lower surfaces is n - 3.
Cylindrical neck 3 having port 35 is integral with
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1 3~4 1 82
surface 224 and extends obliquely upward with respect to
surface 21. Thus, the area of surface 224 integral with
neck 3 can be so reduced that it is negligible.
With this configuration, according to the first
aspect of the present invention, when the interior of
main body 2 is viewed from port 35, all the edges of
bottom 21 can be seen directly. More specifically, re-
ferring to Fig. 6, angle ~1 defined by straight line Ll
connecting point Pl on a front end of an opening of cyl-
indrical neck 3 and point P2 on a rear end of an opening
thereof, and a circumferential wall surface of neck 3 is
larger than angle ~2 defined by straight line L2 con-
necting point Pl and given point P3 on an edge of sur-
face 21 and the circumferential wall surface of neck 3.
This allows a rod-like recovery means to reach all of
the edges of surface 21 with its distal end.
When legs 5 are provided to the bottom portion of
flask 1, stability of flask 1 is increased.
Figs. 9 to 11 show another embodiment according to
a second aspect of the present invention.
In Figs. 9 to 11, unlike the conventional flask
shown in Figs. 1 to 3, curved portions 41 and 42 which
project outward from main body 2 are provided on a con-
tiguous portion of major surface 224 and neck 3.
Portions 41 and 42 are two separate curved surfaces
or constitute a single curved portion obtained by con-
necting two curved surfaces at a contiguous portion of
1 334 1 82
surface 224 and neck 3 having port 35. With portions 41
and 42, the entire area of front corners of surface 21
can be seen directly through port 35, so that a linear
pipette or the like can reach them.
Figs. 12 to 14 show still another embodiment accor-
ding to a third aspect of the present invention obtained
by combining the first and second aspects described
above.
In Figs. 12 to 14, curved portions 41 and 42, which
project outward from main body 2, are provided on a con-
tiguous portion of surface 224 and neck 3 of the flask
shown in Figs. 4 to 8.
When the second aspect is combined with the first
aspect in this manner, a pipette or the like can reach
any corner of the flask even if the inclinations of
surfaces 225, 226 and 227 are steeper. Therefore, this
enables size reduction and larger capacity in the tissue
culture flasks.
The tissue culture flask of the present invention
can be manufactured by forming a plurality of portions
from a transparent material such as polystyrene, meth-
acrylate resin, polycarbonate and polyethylene, and fus-
ing them.
More particularly, a tissue culture flask of the
present invention can be manufactured by separately
forming a container main body including neck 3
(excluding upper surface 25), and upper surface 25, and
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1 3341 82
fusing them.
In accordance with another manufacturing method, a
tissue culture flask of the present invention can be
manufactured by separately forming a container main body
(excluding rear side surface 26 and containing neck 3
and surface 25), and rear side surface 26, and fusing
them.
According to the present invention, a pipette or
the like can reach all the edges of the bottom surface
of the tissue culture flask, so that a recovery effi-
ciency of cells and so on attached to the bottom of the
flask can be greatly increased.
According to the first aspect of the present inven-
tion, the flasks can be stacked, the overall size is
compact, and the required supply amount of culture me-
dium can be easily discriminated from the depth of the
culture liquid actually supplied.
According to the second aspect of the present in-
vention, the area of the bottom surface of the flask can
be determined correctly, and culturing, handling of the
flask for analysis, and manufacture of the flask are
easy.
According to the third aspect of the present
invention, the effect of the present invention can be
obtained by only slightly modifying the shape of a
conventional tissue culture flask. Thereby, the amount
of culture medium that is not removed upon decantation
1 334 1 82
of the culture is decreased. When the third aspect of
the present invention is combined with the second
aspect, the inclination of the inclined lower surface of
the front side surface can be increased. As a result,
reduction in size and larger capacity of the flask and a
decrease in the number of cells attached to the inclined
surface thereof can be enabled, and accidental out flow
of the culture medium due to vibration can be
prevented.
