Analytical chip and analyzer

Abstract

An analytical chip comprising a substrate, a reaction cell(s) formed in said substrate, into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced, a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) are stored, and a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s).

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An analytical chip comprising 
 a substrate,    a reaction cell(s) formed in said substrate, into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced,    a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) are stored, and    a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s).    
     
     
         2 . An analytical chip comprising 
 a substrate,    a reaction cell(s) formed in said substrate, into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced,    a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) are stored,    a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s), and    a fluid-supplying path(s) which leads to said reagent storage portion(s) and supplies a fluid for allowing said reagents to flow from said reagent storage portion(s) to said reagent nozzle portion(s), to said reagent storage portion(s).    
     
     
         3 . An analytical chip comprising 
 a substrate,    a reaction cell(s) formed in said substrate, into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced,    a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) are stored, and    a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s), wherein said flow path(s) is formed by the formation of a gap(s) extending from said reagent storage portion(s) to said reaction cell, at least before the introduction of said sample.    
     
     
         4 . An analytical chip according to  claim 3 , wherein the fine flow path(s) has a region where the sectional area of the flow path is 15,000 μm 2  or less.  
     
     
         5 . An analytical chip according to  claim 3 , wherein said reagent storage portion(s) has a region which is deformed by an external force so as to reduce the capacity of said reagent storage portion(s).  
     
     
         6 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , wherein said fluid-supplying path is such that its connecting portion to said reagent storage portion is formed in a region present at a distance of 80% or more of the distance between the connecting portion of said reagent nozzle to said reagent storage portion and the farthest region of the inner wall of said reagent storage portion.  
     
     
         7 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , wherein said substrate comprises a first substrate and a second substrate formed on one principal surface of the first substrate; said reagent storage portion(s) is formed as a region(s) for storing said reagents, between said first substrate and said second substrate; and at least a part of said reagent nozzle(s) is formed in a region(s) outside the region(s) where said reagent storage portion(s) is formed, in relation to the direction perpendicular to said principal surface.  
     
     
         8 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , wherein said fluid-supplying path(s) is formed so as to have a capacity larger than that of said reagent nozzle(s).  
     
     
         9 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , wherein said fluid-supplying path(s) is formed so as to have a minimum flow path sectional area larger than that of the said reagent nozzle(s).  
     
     
         10 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , which comprises a plurality of said reagent storage portions and a plurality of said reagent nozzles connecting said reagent storage portions to the reaction cell(s).  
     
     
         11 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , wherein in at least said reaction cell(s), a reflective plate capable of reflecting light due to the reaction of the sample introduced into the reaction cell(s) with each reagent is set in said substrate.  
     
     
         12 . An analytical chip according to  claim 2 , wherein said substrate comprises an organic material as its main constituent.  
     
     
         13 . An analytical chip comprising 
 a substrate,    a reaction cell(s) formed in said substrate, into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced,    a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) are stored,    a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s), and    a fluid-supplying path(s) which leads to said reagent storage portion(s) and supplies a fluid for allowing said reagents to flow from said reagent storage portion(s) to said reagent nozzle portion(s), to said reagent storage portion(s),    wherein a plurality of said reagent storage portions are formed in said substrate and the shortest flow path among the flow paths from said reagent storage portions to said reaction cell(s) has a length of 95% or more of the length of the longest flow path.    
     
     
         14 . An analyzer comprising 
 an analytical chip setting portion for setting therein an analytical chip comprising a reaction cell(s) into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced, a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) are stored, and a reagent nozzle portion(s) connecting said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s),    a supplying mechanism for supplying a fluid for discharging said reagents in said reagent storage portion(s) into said reagent nozzle portion(s), to said reagent storage portion(s) of said analytical chip, and    a detection portion which faces said reaction cell(s) and detects light emitted in said reaction cell(s).    
     
     
         15 . An analyzer according to  claim 14 , wherein said analytical chip setting portion is equipped with a fixing mechanism for fixing said analytical chip in said analytical chip setting portion.  
     
     
         16 . An analytical method comprising 
 a first supplying step in which a first nucleotide is supplied to a sample containing a single-stranded DNA,    a second supplying step in which a second nucleotide is supplied to said sample,    a first heating step in which said first nucleotide and said sample are adjusted to a first temperature higher than room temperature,    a step of lowering the temperature from said first temperature to a second temperature lower than said first temperature, and    a step of adjusting said second nucleotide and said sample to a third temperature higher than said second temperature.    
     
     
         17 . A method for using an analytical chip comprising 
 a step of providing an analytical chip comprising a reaction cell(s) into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced, a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) have been stored, and a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s),    a step of solidifying the reagents in said reagent storage portion(s) of said analytical chip provided, by cooling,    a step of conveying said analytical chip in which said reagents solidified have been stored,    a step of heating said analytical chip conveyed, to melt said reagents,    a step of introducing the sample collected from a living body, into said reaction cell(s) to mix the same with each of said reagents, and    a step of detecting the reaction caused by this mixing.    
     
     
         18 . A method for using an analytical chip comprising 
 a step of providing an analytical chip comprising a reaction cell(s) into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced, a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) have been stored, and a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s),    a step of solidifying the reagents in said reagent storage portion(s) of said analytical chip provided, by cooling, and    a step of conveying said analytical chip in which said reagents solidified have been stored.    
     
     
         19 . A method for using an analytical chip comprising 
 a step of providing an analytical chip comprising a reaction cell(s) into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced, a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) have been stored, and a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s),    a step of introducing said analytical chip into a cooling unit to cool the same to a temperature higher than a temperature at which the reagents in said reagent storage portion(s) of said analytical chip are solidified,    a step of conveying said analytical chip at a temperature which is lower than the temperature outside said cooling unit and is higher than a temperature at which said reagents are solidified,    a step of heating said analytical chip conveyed,    a step of introducing the sample collected from a living body, into said reaction cell(s) to mix the same with each of said reagents, and    a step of detecting the reaction caused by this mixing.    
     
     
         20 . A method for using an analytical chip comprising 
 a step of providing an analytical chip comprising a reaction cell(s) into which a sample collected from a living body is introduced, a reagent storage portion(s) in which reagents to be supplied to said reaction cell(s) have been stored, and a reagent nozzle portion(s) constituting a flow path(s) which connects said reaction cell(s) to said reagent storage portion(s) and along which said reagents stored in said reagent storage portion(s) flow into said reaction cell(s),    a step of introducing said analytical chip provided, into a cooling unit to cool the reagents in said reagent storage portion(s) to a temperature higher than the solidifying points of said reagents, and    a step of conveying said analytical chip at a temperature which is lower than the temperature outside said cooling unit and is higher than a temperature at which said reagents are solidified.    
     
     
         21 . An information management center having a database concerning genetic information which is connected through a network to a plurality of users who carry out an analysis on the genes of a sample, which information management center receives information on the results of said analysis and the ID of each of said users from the user, transmits evaluation information obtained by evaluating the thus received analysis result information on the basis of corresponding information in said database, to the user, and incorporates said analysis result information into said database.  
     
     
         22 . An information management center having a database concerning genetic information which is connected through a network to a plurality of users who carry out an analysis on the genes of a sample, which information management center has receiving equipment for receiving information on the results of said analysis, the ID of each of said users and information on use of an apparatus for said analysis from the user, and transmitting equipment for transmitting evaluation information obtained by evaluating the thus received analysis result information on the basis of corresponding information in said database, to the user, and which information management center is connected through a network to a service provider which utilizes the above use information, transmits said use information to said service provider, and receives information on information in the database from said service provider.  
     
     
         23 . A service provider that is connected through a network to an information management center having a database concerning genetic information which is connected through a network to a plurality of users who carry out an analysis on the genes of a sample, and that gives services regarding an apparatus for said analysis, which service provider receives information on use of the apparatus for said analysis from said information management center which receives information on the results of said analysis, the ID of each of said users and information on use of the apparatus for said analysis from the user and transmits evaluation information obtained by evaluating the thus received analysis result information on the basis of corresponding information in said database, to the user, and which service provider transmits information on information in said database to said information management center.