Culturing device

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a device culturing cells.

Cell culture includes a process of transferring cells in a culture vessel to another culture vessel and a process of exchanging culture media in a culture vessel. Such processes of the cell culture need to be performed in an aseptic state. The cell culture is performed over several day to several weeks, and, during this period, each process described above is performed two or more times. For the purpose of simplifying an operation performed by a person in the cell culture or culturing a large number of cells, a device performing each process in the cell culture by a machine has been published (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

CITATION LIST
Patent Literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-291104

Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-29041

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to a technique of using a culture vessel which is not completely sealed as in a cell culture device described in Patent Document 1, the culture space where the culture vessel is placed needs to be held in an aseptic state, which has posed a problem that the size of the device easily increases. Moreover, the problem that the size of the device easily increases arises due to a reason that the space where a robot arm, a table, and the like for treating a culture vessel for exchanging culture media or subculture are disposed are also held in an aseptic state.

According to a technique of using a culture vessel, the internal space of which can be held in an aseptic state, as in a bag, the space where the culture vessel is disposed does not need to be held in an aseptic state. However, since a bag-shaped culture vessel is likely to be bent, it is difficult to cause a liquid to flow in and out of the internal space of the bag in exchanging culture media, subculture, and the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances. It is an object of the present invention to provide a culture device capable of easily performing cell culture using a culture vessel.

(1) A culture device according to the present invention has a culture vessel which has port through which a liquid flows and enables cell culture in the internal space, a vessel holding portion having holding plate holding the culture vessel and rotating shaft, a rotation mechanism supporting and rotating the rotating shaft, a liquid supply/discharge mechanism supplying and discharging a liquid to/from the culture vessel, and a rotation control portion controlling the rotation of the rotation mechanism, in which the rotation control portion brings the vessel holding portion into a first position in which the supporting surface supporting the culture vessel in the holding plate are in parallel with the approximately horizontal direction according to a first information indicating that cell culture is performed in the culture vessel and brings the vessel holding portion into a second position in which the supporting surface are not in parallel with the horizontal direction and a vertical direction at least when a solution in the culture vessel is caused to flow out of the port according to a second information indicating that solution exchanged is performed in the culture vessel.

In the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the first position, cell culture is performed. In the first position, since the supporting surfaces of the vessel holding portion are in parallel with the approximately horizontal direction, one of the inner surfaces of the culture vessel is held in a state in parallel with the approximately horizontal direction. Thus, the culture vessel is stably supported with the vessel holding portion and, for example, adhesive cells adhere to the inner surface of the culture vessel to be cultured.

In the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the second position, exchange of solutions typified by a culture medium, reagent, and the like is performed. In the exchange of solutions, a solution reserved in the culture vessel is partially caused to flow out. In the second position, the inner surfaces of the culture vessel are not in parallel with the horizontal direction and the vertical direction.

Therefore, due to the fact that the port of the culture vessel is located downward in the vertical direction, a culture medium is caused to flow out of the internal space of the culture vessel through the port by gravity and the deformation of the culture vessel by gravity is smaller than that in a third position. More specifically, a possibility that the inner surfaces contact each other in the culture vessel is reduced. Thus, a possibility that cells are peeled off from the inner surface of the culture vessel is reduced, for example.

(2) Preferably, the rotation control portion brings the vessel holding portion into a third position in which the supporting surface are in parallel with the approximately vertical direction at least when the solution in the culture vessel is caused to flow out of the port according to a third information indicating that the solution is discharged from the culture vessel.

In the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the third position, the solution, such as a cell suspension and a peeling liquid, is caused to flow out through the port. In the third position, since the supporting surfaces of the vessel holding portion are in parallel with the approximately vertical direction, the inner surfaces of the culture vessel are held in a state in parallel with the approximately vertical direction. Due to the fact that the port of the culture vessel is located downward in the vertical direction, the solution, such as a cell suspension and a peeling liquid, is caused to flow out of the internal space of the culture vessel through the port by gravity.

(3) Preferably, a supply/discharge control portion controlling the liquid supply/discharge mechanism is further provided, the culture vessel has the port on both end sides in a direction orthogonal to the rotating shaft in a state of being held by the vessel holding portion, the rotation control portion brings the vessel holding portion into the second position or the third position according to the second information or the third information, and the supply/discharge control portion causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism to cause the solution in the culture vessel to flow out through the port located downward in the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the second position or the third position according to the second information or the third information.

(4) Preferably, a solution is caused to flow in the culture vessel from either one port in the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the first position and a predetermined amount of the solution is sucked from the port located upward in the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the second position or the third position.

In the vessel holding portion in the second position or the third position, the solution, such as a culture medium, reserved in the culture vessel is caused to flow out through the port of the culture vessel located downward in the vertical direction. Thereafter, in the vessel holding portion in the first position, the solution, such as a culture medium, is caused to flow in the internal space through the port of the culture vessel. Then, in the vessel holding portion in the second position or the third position, the liquid supply/discharge mechanism sucks a predetermined amount of the solution through the port of the culture vessel located upward in the vertical direction. By the suction, even when gas enters the internal space of the culture vessel in the exchange of the solutions, such as a culture medium, the gas gathers near the port of the culture vessel located upward in the vertical direction in the second position or the third position, and then the gas is sucked out of the culture vessel through the port. Thus, gas or a liquid is caused to efficiently flow in and out of the culture vessel.

(5) Preferably, the supply/discharge control portion causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism to perform a step of causing a culture medium to flow out of the port of the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the third position, a step of causing a peeling liquid to flow in the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the first position, a step of causing a peeling liquid to flow out of the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the second position or the third position, a step of causing a culture medium to flow in the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the first position, and a step of causing a cell suspension to flow out of the culture vessel held by the vessel holding portion in the third position.

Thus, the cells adhering to the inner surface of the culture vessel are caused to flow out of the culture vessel as a cell suspension. Moreover, a cell suspension containing the culture medium as a solvent can be obtained without performing centrifugal separation.

(6) Preferably, in the second position, an acute angle formed by the supporting surface with respect to the horizontal direction is 20° or more and 70° or less.

(7) Preferably, an inner surface of the culture vessel has cell adhesiveness suitable for culturing adhesive cells.

(8) Preferably, the rotation control portion brings the vessel holding portion into the first position according to the first information, and then brings the vessel holding portion to a fourth position in which the supporting surface is rotated by 180° from the first position.

In the first position, adhesive cells, for example, adhere to the inner surface of the culture vessel facing upward in the vertical direction to be cultured. In the fourth position, the inner surface of the culture vessel facing upward in the vertical direction in the first position faces downward in the vertical direction. On the other hand, the inner surface of the culture vessel facing downward in the vertical direction in the first position faces upward in the vertical direction. Thus, adhesives cell adhere to the inner surface to which the adhesive cells are difficult to adhere in the first position to be cultured.

(9) Preferably, a culture control portion outputting the first information, the second information, and the third information to the rotation control portion is further provided. The culture control portion performs a culture step of outputting the first information, a solution exchanging step of outputting the second information, and a solution discharging step of outputting the third information are performed.

Thus, the culture step, the step of exchanging solutions, such as a culture medium, and the step of discharging a solution, such as a cell suspension, are automatically controlled and performed.

(10) Preferably, the culture control portion drives the liquid supply/discharge mechanism to partially or completely exchange a solution in the culture vessel in the solution exchanging step.

Advantageous Effects of Invention

According to the device of the present invention, cell culture using a culture vessel can be easily performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a culture device 10.

FIG. 2 is a perspective diagram of the inside of a culture portion 14, in which tubes 38 are omitted and a control portion 11 is illustrated for explanation.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view viewed from above the inside of the culture portion 14, in which holding plates 42 on the upper surface of a first bag holding portion 31, a second bag holding portion 32, and a third bag holding portion 33 are omitted.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the third bag holding portion 33.

FIGS. 5(A) to 5(C) are cross-sectional views illustrating a cut plane V-V of a culture bag 70.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of the first bag holding portion 31 for explaining a concentrator 120.

FIGS. 7(A) to 7(D) are schematic views of the concentrator 120.

FIG. 8 is a perspective diagram of a weight detector 23 and a bearing portion 24.

FIG. 9(A) is a perspective diagram of a tube 99 and FIG. 9(B) is a schematic view of a cross section along a cut plane IX-IX of the tube 99.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged cross-sectional view illustrating a cut plane V-V of the culture bag 70.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of a cell culture method.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view for explaining a first position of the first bag holding portion 31.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of a liquid supply step.

FIG. 14 is a schematic view for explaining a third position of the first bag holding portion 31.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cut plane V-V of the culture bag 70 when the first bag holding portion 31 is in the third position.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of a culture step.

FIG. 17(A) is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cut plane V-V of the culture bag 70 when the first bag holding portion 31 is in the first position and FIG. 17(B) is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cut plane V-V of the culture bag 70 when the first bag holding portion 31 is in a fourth position.

FIG. 18 is a schematic view for explaining the fourth position of the first bag holding portion 31.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart of a culture medium exchanging step.

FIG. 20 is a schematic view for explaining a second position of the first bag holding portion 31.

FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cut plane V-V of the culture bag 70 when the first bag holding portion 31 is in the second position.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart of a liquid discharging step.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart of a cell suspension collecting step.

FIG. 24 is a schematic view for explaining the first bag holding portion 31 in a reverse third position.

FIG. 25 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the cut plane V-V of the culture bag 70 when the first bag holding portion 31 is in the reverse third position.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart of a cell suspension concentrating step.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a preferable embodiment of the present invention is described. It is a matter of course that this embodiment is merely one embodiment of the present invention and the embodiment can be altered in the range where the scope of the present invention is not altered.

[Outline of Culture Device 10]

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a culture device 10 has a control portion 11, a cold storage portion 12, a normal temperature storage portion 13, and two culture portions 14. The cold storage portion 12 and the normal temperature storage portion 13 are provided outside the culture portion 14. The two culture portions 14 are separately disposed upward and downward. The control portion 11 has a display 15. The display 15 is disposed on the front surface of the culture device 10. The control portion 11 has a data input portion (not illustrated), and various conditions about cell culture and the like are input into the control portion 11 through the data input portion.

The culture device 10 is a device automatically culturing cells according to a program input and stored in the control portion 11. Hereinafter, constituent components of the culture device 10 are described in detail. In the following description, a vertical direction 101 is defined along the upper and lower sides in FIG. 1, a lateral direction 102 is defined along the right and left sides in FIG. 1, and a forward and backward direction 103 is defined along a direction (direction perpendicular to the sheet surface of FIG. 1) perpendicular to the vertical direction 101 and the lateral direction 102.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the control portion 11 has a rotation control portion 20, a culture control portion 21, and a supply/discharge control portion 22. The rotation control portion 20, the culture control portion 21, and the supply/discharge control portion 22 are arithmetic units for controlling an operation of a control target of each of the portions and store a program and information beforehand. The culture control portion 21 outputs control information to the rotation control portion 20 and the supply/discharge control portion 22. Moreover, the culture control portion 21 outputs control information for controlling the environmental temperature of the culture portions 14. The rotation control portion 20 is electrically connected to the rotation mechanisms 34 and outputs the control information for controlling the drive of the rotation mechanisms 34. The supply/discharge control portion 22 is connected to a liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 and outputs control information for driving actuators of the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37, i.e., a supply pump 91, a discharge pump 92, and valves V1 to V18.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the cold storage portion 12 is a case in which shelves for placing vessels reserving a reagent or a culture medium therein are formed. On the front surface of the cold storage portion 12, a door capable of opening and closing an opening provided in the front surface of the case is provided. The cold storage portion 12 is a so-called refrigerator having a cooling mechanism (not illustrated). The temperature inside the cold storage portion 12 is kept at an arbitrary preset temperature, e.g., about 10° C. or about 4° C., for example, lower than normal temperature by the cooling mechanism. The normal temperature storage portion 13 is a case having shelves for placing vessels reserving a reagent or a culture medium therein.

The vessels placed inside the cold storage portion 12 and the normal temperature storage portion 13 can reserve a reagent or a culture medium in a fluid tight manner. Examples of the vessels include a bag, a bottle, a cassette, and the like, for example. To each vessel, a tube and the like are connected so that a liquid therein can flow out, and thus a reserved liquid can be caused to flow out by the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37.

[Culture Portion 14]

The two culture portions 14 have the same structure except a difference in the arrangement in the device, and therefore a detailed configuration thereof is described below taking one culture portion 14 as an example. The culture portion 14 is space formed inside the culture device 10. The space is partitioned by a case frame of the culture device 10 and a tray 17 (FIG. 2). The tray 17 can be drawn to the front side from the front surface of the culture device 10. By drawing of the tray 17, the culture portion 14 is opened, so that each configuration provided in the culture portion 14 can be accessed.

The culture portion 14 can be held at predetermined temperature and CO₂concentration. Although not illustrated in each figure, the culture portion 14 is provided with a warming device and a CO₂supply device. Moreover, the culture portion 14 is provided with a temperature sensor and a CO₂concentration sensor. The culture control portion 21 drives the warming device and the CO₂supply device in order to set the inside of the culture portion 14 to set temperature and CO₂concentration based on outputs of the temperature sensor and the CO₂concentration sensor. In cell culture, the culture portion 14 can be held in an environment of 37° C. and 5% CO₂, for example.

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, and the third bag holding portion 33 are provided side by side in the lateral direction 102 in the tray 17. The rotation mechanism 34 is provided in the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 of the first bag holding portion 31. By the rotation mechanism 34, the first bag holding portion 31 is rotated to a predetermined rotation position. Similarly, the rotation mechanism 34 is provided in the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 of the second bag holding portion 32 and the rotation mechanism 34 is provided in the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 of the third bag holding portion 33. The liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 is provided on the front side of the tray 17. Moreover, a concentrator support portion 104 connected to the first bag holding portion 31 in such a manner as to be coaxially rotatable with the first bag holding portion 31 is provided. Moreover, vessel storage portions 27 and 28 are provided on the left side in the lateral direction 102 of the tray 17 and a vessel storage portion 29 is provided on the right side in the lateral direction 102 of the tray 17.

[Third Bag Holding Portion 33]

The first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, and the third bag holding portion 33 basically have the same configuration except a difference in the arrangement and the size, and therefore a detailed configuration is described taking the third bag holding portion 33 as an example. The outer shapes and the sizes of the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, and the third bag holding portion 33 are designed according to the outer shape of a culture bag which can be held.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the third bag holding portion 33 has holding plates 42 and 43, holders 44 and 45, spacers 46 and 47, and rotating shafts 48 and 49. The holding plates 42 and 43 are rectangular plates. In the holding plates 42 and 43, a plurality of holes penetrating in the thickness direction is formed. The holes increase the heat conduction from gas in the culture portion 14 to the culture bag 90 sandwiched between the holding plates 42 and 43 to be held. The holding plates 42 and 43 are disposed facing each other. The surfaces facing each other in the holding plates 42 and 43 are supporting surfaces 65 and 66.

The spacers 46 and 47 are disposed in a pair of edge portions facing each other which are located between the holding plates 42 and 43 and in which ports 73 and 74 of the culture bag 90 (an example of the culture vessel) are disposed. The spacers 46 and 47 maintain the interval between the holding plates 42 and 43. The spacers 46 and 47 each have a square pole shape. The length in the longitudinal direction of the spacers 46 and 47 is almost the same as the length of the pair of edge portions of the holding plates 42 and 43. The cross-sectional shape of the spacers 46 and 47 is fixed over a longitudinal direction. In the center in the longitudinal direction of the spacers 46 and 47, recessed portions 46A and 47A recessed in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction are formed. The recessed portions 46A and 47A are space into which tubes 99 of the culture bag 90 each are inserted. The spacers 46 and 47 may be integrally configured with one of the holding plates 42 and 43.

On the spacer 47, a distance sensor 67 is disposed. On the holding plate 42 abutting on the spacer 47, a magnet 68 is disposed facing the distance sensor 67. The distance sensor 67 outputs a voltage according to the magnetic flux density from the magnet 68, and a hall element is used, for example. When the holding plates 42 and 43 are in a usual state of holding a culture bag, the distance between the holding plate 42 and the spacer 47 is constant, and therefore an output of the distance sensor 67 is also constant. When the holding plates 42 and 43 are bent in such a manner as to be spread out in a direction where the holding plates 42 and 43 are separated from each other due to the fact that the amount of a liquid flowing into the culture bag is large and a culture bag is expanded, resulting in an increase in the distance between the holding plate 42 and the spacer 47, the magnetic flux density of the magnet 68 which the distance sensor 67 detects decreases, and the output of the distance sensor 67 varies.

The control portion 11 stores a threshold value beforehand. The threshold value is a value for judging that the distance between the holding plate 42 and the spacer 47 increases to reach a fixed value or above. The control portion 11 can judge that the distance between the holding plate 42 and the spacer 47 increases to reach a fixed value or above by comparing an output of the distance sensor 67 with the threshold value. The distance sensor 67 may be provided in the spacer 46 instead of the spacer 47 or may be provided in both the spacers 46 and 47. The magnet 68 may be provided in either the holding plate 42 or 43 insofar as the magnetic flux is detectable by the distance sensor 67. The arrangements of the distance sensor 67 and the magnet 68 are relative. It is a matter of course that the arrangement of the distance sensor 67 and the arrangement of the magnet 68 may be switched. The distance sensor 67 and the magnet 68 may be disposed facing each other in the holding plates 42 and 43.

The holders 44 and 45 sandwich the holding plates 42 and 43 in a state where the spacers 46 and 47 are present therebetween to integrally hold the same. The holders 44 and 45 are long and narrow members having a cross section of a lateral U-shape. Into the inside of the lateral U-shape, edge portions of the holding plates 42 and 43 in the state where the spacers 46 and 47 are present therebetween are inserted. The edge portions of the holding plates 42 and 43 to be inserted into the holders 44 and 45 are a pair of edge portions where the spacers 46 and 47 are not present. On both end sides in the longitudinal direction of each of the holders 44 and 45, screw holes are formed, and screws 18 are screwed into the screw holes. The tip of the screws 18 is projected to the inside of the lateral U-shape of the holders 44 and 45. Due to the fact that one of the holders 44 and 45 inserted into the lateral U-shape of the holders 44 and 45 is pressurized by the screws 18, the holders 44 and 45 hold the holding plates 42 and 43 in the state where the spacers 46 and 47 are present therebetween. In this state, space formed between the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 of the holding plates 42 and 43 serves as space holding a culture bag. The holders 44 and 45 may be integrally configured with one of the holding plates 42 and 43. The holding plates 42 and 43 may be turnably connected by one of the holders 44 and 45 as in a hinge.

The holders 44 and 45 are provided with rotating shafts 48 and 49, respectively, which are projected from the vicinity of the center in the longitudinal direction to the side opposite to the side where the holding plates 42 and 43 are held. The rotating shafts 48 and 49 coaxially extend in the state where the holders 44 and 45 hold the holding plates 42 and 43. The direction where the rotating shafts 48 and 49 extend is in parallel to the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 of the holding plates 42 and 43.

As illustrated in FIG. 5(A), in the case where a liquid is not contained in the culture bag 90 supported by the third bag holding portion 33 when the third bag holding portion 33 is in a state where the supporting surface 66 is located downward relative to the supporting surface 65 and the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the horizontal direction, the culture bag 90 mainly contacts the supporting surface 66. Herein, the distance between the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 is a distance D1. As illustrated in FIG. 5(B), even when it is supposed that the culture bag 90 expands by a reserved liquid to contact the supporting surfaces 65 and 66, a liquid of a capacity with which the holding plates 42 and 43 are not bent is caused to flow in the culture bag 90. Such a liquid amount is set as the amount of a liquid which can be reserved in the culture bag 90 beforehand. As illustrated in FIG. 5(C), when a liquid with an amount larger than the preset amount is caused to flow in the culture bag 90, the culture bag 90 in contact with the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 further expands to bend the holding plates 42 and 43 in such a manner as to be spread out in a direction of separating from each other. Due to the bending of the holding plates 42 and 43, the distance between the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 increases (Distance D2). When a detection value of the distance sensor 67 according to the distance between the holding plate 42 and the spacer 47 exceeds the threshold value described above, the control portion 11 judges that the distance between the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 exceeds the distance D2.

Detailed configurations of the first bag holding portion 31 and the second bag holding portion 32 are not described in detail with reference to the drawings but have holding plate holders and spacers as with the third bag holding portion 33.

[Concentrator Support Portion 104]

As illustrated in FIG. 6, a concentrator support portion 104 is disposed in the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 of the first bag holding portion 31. The concentrator support portion 104 is integrally connected to the first bag holding portion 31. Therefore, the concentrator support portion 104 rotates integrally with the first bag holding portion 31 around the rotating shafts 48 and 49. The concentrator support portion 104 supports a concentrator 120. The concentrator 120 supported by the concentrator support portion 104 is disposed so that an inflow port 110 and a first outflow port 111 each face a direction crossing (in this embodiment, direction orthogonal to) the rotation axis by the rotating shafts 48 and 49. Thus, when the concentrator 120 rotates around the rotating shafts 48 and 49 with the concentrator support portion 104, the positions in the vertical direction 101 of the inflow port 110 and the first outflow port 111 are changed. A direction where each of the inflow port 110 and the first outflow port 111 of the concentrator 120 supported by the concentrator support portion 104 extends and a direction where each of the ports 73 and 74 of a culture bag 70 held by the first bag holding portion 31 extends are in agreement with each other.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, openings 17A are formed in three places in the tray 17 in the portions where the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, the third bag holding portion 33, and the concentrator support portion 104 are disposed in order to avoid interference with the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, the third bag holding portion 33, and the concentrator support portion 104 which are rotating.

In the front side and the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 of each opening 17A, a pair of bearing portions 24 is individually disposed. The pair of bearing portions 24 rotatably supports each of the rotating shafts 48 and 49 of the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, the third bag holding portion 33, and the concentrator support portion 104 in the state in parallel with the forward and backward direction 103. Thus, each of the holding plates 42 and 43 of the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, and the third bag holding portion 33 and the concentrator support portion 104 can be rotated around the rotating shafts 48 and 49 as the rotation center.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, each bearing portion 24 is placed on each weight detector 23 provided on the tray 17. By a pair of weight detectors 23 corresponding to each of the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, or the third bag holding portion 33, the weights of the corresponding bag holding portion, a culture bag held by the corresponding bag holding portion, the bearing portion 24, and the like are detected. As the weight detector 23, a load cell converting power (weight) applied to the weight detector 23 to an electric signal or the like is used, for example.

[Rotation Mechanism 34]

As illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the rotation mechanism 34 is provided in the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 of each bearing portion 24 in the tray 17. The rotation mechanism 34 has a rotation shaft support portion 16 and a stepping motor (not illustrated). The rotation shaft support portion 16 extends toward the rear side in the forward and backward direction 103 and is coaxially connected to the rotating shaft 49 supported by each bearing portion 24. Although not illustrated in each figure, power is supplied to the stepping motor from a power supply. Moreover, drive is transmitted to the stepping motor and the rotation shaft support portion 16 by a known speed reduction gear or the like. By the supply of power based on a control signal output from the rotation control portion 20 to the stepping motor, the rotation shaft support portion 16 rotates by only a predetermined rotation angle. The stepping motor may be provided with a sensor for detecting the original point position, i.e., the rotation position where the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 of the holding plates 42 and 43 of the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, and the third bag holding portion 33 are in parallel with the horizontal direction. The rotation control portion 20 can drive the stepping motor so that the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the horizontal direction based on the output of this sensor. Similarly, the stepping motor can be driven so that the inflow port 110 and the first outflow port 111 of the concentrator 120 extend in the horizontal direction. The stepping motor is an example of a driving source of the rotation mechanism 34 and the other driving sources, such as a DC motor having an encoder capable of detecting the rotation amount, may be used, for example, in replace of the stepping motor. The rotation position of the driving source may be detected by other detection means, such as a resolver, or a sensor capable of directly detecting the rotation position of the first bag holding portion 31 and the like may be provided.

[Liquid Supply/Discharge Mechanism 37]

As illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 has a supply pump 91, a discharge pump 92, and a plurality of valves V1 to V18. As the supply pump 91 and the discharge pump 92, known substances capable of sending a liquid in a tube are used. Examples of such a pump include a so-called tube pump sending liquid by squeezing an elastic tube with a turning roller, for example. Power is supplied to the supply pump 91 and the discharge pump 92 from the power supply. The supply/discharge control portion 22 can drive the supply pump 91 and the discharge pump 92 for a definite period of time by controlling the power supplied to the supply pump 91 and the discharge pump 92.

The plurality of valves V1 to V18 are roughly classified into the valves V1 to V11 relating to the supply pump 91 and the valves V12 to V18 relating to the discharge pump 92. The supply pump 91 and the valves V1 to V11 are a liquid supply mechanism 81 in the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 and the discharge pump 92 and the valves V12 to V18 are a liquid discharge mechanism 82 in the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37. In each valve V1 to V18, ON/OFF is switched based on a control signal output from the supply/discharge control portion 22. By ON/OFF of each valve V1 to V18, the flow of a liquid in each tube 38 connected to the culture bag and the like can be changed. As the valves V1 to V18, an electromagnetic valve is used, for example.

[Culture Circuit]

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a culture circuit has three culture bags 70, 80, and 90, two server bags 39 and 40, a collection bag 41, the concentrator 120, reservoirs 116 and 117 held by the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13, and a plurality of tubes 38 connecting them so that a liquid can flow. The culture bag 70 is disposed in the first bag holding portion 31. The culture bag 80 is disposed in the second bag holding portion 32. The culture bag 90 is disposed in the third bag holding portion 33. The concentrator 120 is disposed in the concentrator support portion 104. The collection bag 41 is disposed in the culture portion 14. The culture bags 70, 80, and 90 have the same configuration except that the capacity of the culture bag 70 is smaller than that of the culture bags 80 and 90, and therefore a detailed configuration is described below taking the culture bag 90 as an example.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the culture bag 90 is formed into a bag shape by bonding peripheral edges of two rectangular sheets formed of a synthetic resin by known methods, such as thermal welding. The tubes 99 formed of a synthetic resin are disposed near the center of each of a pair of end portions 77 and 78 facing each other in the two rectangular sheets. In a portion located in an internal space 75 of the culture bag 90 of each tube 99, a notch portion 105 is formed toward edges 87 and 88 from the ends located in the internal space 75 of the culture bag 90 as illustrated in FIGS. 9(A) and 9(B). The notch portion 105 is located in a portion not facing inner surfaces 71 and 72 demarcating the internal space 75 of the culture bag 90, i.e., a place facing end portions other than the pair of end portions 77 and 78 in the two rectangular sheets, as illustrated in FIG. 10. Even when it is supposed that, when a liquid is caused to flow out of the culture bag 90, the inner surfaces 71 and 72 are brought close to each other by a negative pressure arising in the internal space 75, the inner surfaces 71 and 72 are difficult to contact each other near the tubes 99 due to the fact that the tubes 99 are present between the inner surfaces 71 and 72. On the other hand, since the notch portion 105 is formed in a place not facing the inner surfaces 71 and 72 in the tubes 99, a liquid remaining near the edges 87 and 88 of the internal space 75 can flow in the internal space of the tubes 99 through the notch portions 105.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the internal space 75 of the culture bag 90 is brought into communication with the outside through the internal space of the tubes 99. More specifically, the ports 73 and 74 are formed by the tubes 99. The edges 87 and 88 where the tubes 99 are disposed of the edges demarcating the internal space 75 of the culture bag 90 have a tapered shape in which the distance between the edges 87 and 88 decreases as separating from the ports 73 and 74. In other words, the edges 87 and 88 have a shape of expanding to the outside of the culture bag 90 toward the center where the tubes 99 are disposed. In the state where the culture bag 90 is held by the first bag holding portion 31, the tubes 99 extend in a direction orthogonal to the rotating shafts 48 and 49. More specifically, the ports 73 and 74 extend in the direction orthogonal to the rotating shafts 48 and 49.

The synthetic resin sheet for use in the culture bag 90 has flexibility and has bending rigidity with which the bag shape can be maintained when a culture medium is placed therein. For example, low density polyethylene, ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene, cyclic polyolefin resin, and those having a laminated structure with the materials above or other materials are mentioned.

The inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bag 90 have cell adhesiveness suitable for culturing adhesive cells. In detail, cell adhesive functional groups are exposed by plasma treatment or the like, for example, in the inner surfaces 71 and 72. Examples of the cell adhesive functional group include an amino group, an amine group, a hydroxyl group, a sulfone group, a sulfen group, a sulfin group, an ether group, a carboxyl group, a carbonyl group, and the like, for example. Among the above, an amino group and a carboxyl group having high adhesiveness with cells are preferable.

The server bags 39 and 40, the collection bag 41, and the reservoirs 116 and 117 illustrated in FIG. 3 are formed into a bag shape by bonding synthetic resin sheets and have at least one of ports 94 to 98. The server bags 39 and 40 reserve a culture medium. The collection bag 41 collects a cell suspension. The reservoirs 116 and 117 reserve a peeling liquid and a priming liquid. For the server bags 39 and 40, the collection bag 41, and the reservoirs 116 and 117, known vessels capable of reserving a culture medium and a cell suspension are usable besides known bags.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, tubes 38 are individually connected to each port of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90, the server bags 39 and 40, the collection bag 41, and the reservoirs 116 and 117. Each tube 38 connected to one port 73 of each of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90, the tube 38 connected to the inflow port 110 of the concentrator 120, each tube 38 connected to each of the ports 94 and 95 of the server bags 39 and 40, and each tube 38 connected to each of the ports 97 and 98 of the reservoirs 116 and 117 is extended to the supply pump 91. These tubes 38 are integrated into one tube 38 through a connector before reaching the supply pump 91 to configure a liquid supply circuit. Moreover, the tubes 38 each are passed through the valves V6 to V11 before integrated into one tube 38 and the valves V6 to V11 can change the internal space of each tube 38 to an opened state where a liquid can flow and a closed state where a liquid cannot flow.

Each tube 38 connected to the other port 74 of each of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90, each tube 38 connected to the first outflow port 111 and a second outflow port 112 of the concentrator 120, and the tube 38 connected to the port 96 of the collection bag 41 is extended to the discharge pump 92. These tubes 38 are integrated into one tube 38 before reaching the discharge pump 92 through a connector to configure a liquid discharge circuit. Moreover, the tubes 38 each are passed through the valves V12 and V14 to V18 before integrated into one tube 38 and the valves V12 and V14 to V18 can change the internal space of each tube 38 to an opened state where a liquid can flow and a closed state where a liquid cannot flow.

The tube 38 leading to the supply pump 91 is branched again, and then each tube 38 is connected to bags and vessels placed in the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13 through the valves V1 to V5. These bags and the vessels reserve a cell suspension, a culture medium, and reagents, such as a peeling liquid. The tube 38 leading to the discharge pump 92 is connected to a waste liquid vessel 19.

[Concentrator 120]

As illustrated in FIG. 7(A), the concentrator 120 has a body 106, a cap 107, a cap 108, and a hollow fiber bundle 109. The body 106 has an approximately cylindrical shape. The body 106 is opened in both sides in the axial direction (direction along the vertical direction in FIG. 7(A)). The cap 107 and the cap 108 are screwed into each opening of the body 106. In the cap 107, the inflow port 110 bringing the internal space and the external space of the concentrator 120 into communication with each other is formed so as to extend along the axial direction of the body 106. In the cap 108, the first outflow port 111 bringing the internal space and the external space of the concentrator 120 into communication with each other is formed so as to extend along the axial direction of the body 106.

A pair of hollow fiber supports (not illustrated) is formed near each opening of the body 106. The hollow fiber bundle 109 is supported by the pair of hollow fiber supports to be disposed in the internal space of the body 106. Both ends of the hollow fiber bundle 109 are disposed near the openings of the body 106. The hollow fiber supports support both the ends of the hollow fiber bundle 109 and separates both the ends of the hollow fiber bundle 109 and the internal space of the body 106 in a fluid-tight manner. Therefore, a liquid flowing into the internal space of the body 106 through the inflow port 110 of the cap 107 flows into one end of a hollow fiber bundle 114 and does not flow in the space demarcated by the pair of hollow fiber supports in the internal space of the body 106. On the other hand, a liquid flowing out of the other end of the hollow fiber bundle 109 flows out of the first outflow port 111 of the cap 108 to the outside and a liquid does not flow in the first outflow port 111 from the space demarcated by the pair of hollow fiber supports in the internal space of the body 106.

In the body 106, the second outflow port 112 extends in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction (direction along the vertical direction in FIG. 7) of the body 106 on the side where the cap 108 is screwed and the port 113 extends in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the body 106 on the side where the cap 107 is screwed. The second outflow port 112 and the port 113 bring the space demarcated by the pair of hollow fiber supports in the internal space of the body 106 and the outside of the body 106 into communication with each other. A liquid flowing out of the hollow fiber bundle 109 by filtering is caused to flow out to the outside through the second discharge port 112. The port 113 is sealed in this embodiment. The tubes 38 described above are connected to the inflow port 110, the first outflow port 111, and the second outflow port 112.

The hollow fiber bundle 109 is a bundle of hollow fibers in which a dialysis membrane is formed into a tubular shape. The hollow fibers each are opened in both ends thereof. Examples of raw materials of the hollow fibers include triacetate, polyether sulfone, and the like. The thickness, film thickness, pore size, length, type, and the like of the hollow fibers are set as appropriate according to the conditions, such as a size, of cells to be filtered in the concentrator 120.

[Cell Culture Method Using Culture Device 10]

Hereinafter, a cell culture method using the culture device 10 is described. The cell culture using the culture device 10 can be performed by arbitrarily selecting any one or a plurality of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 but, hereinafter, a cell culture method using only the culture bag 70 is described. The cell culture method using the culture device 10 includes each step described below.

(1) Culture step of amplifying cells in the culture bag 70.

(2) Culture medium exchanging step of exchanging culture media in the culture bag 70.

(3) Cell suspension collecting step of collecting a cell suspension in the culture bag 70.

(4) Cell suspension concentrating step of concentrating a cell suspension in the server bag 40.

In the culture device 10, a culture circuit is set beforehand. In detail, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 are set in the first bag holding portion 31, the second bag holding portion 32, and the third bag holding portion 33, respectively, the concentrator 120 is set in the concentrator support portion 104, the server bags 39 and 40 are held by the vessel storage portions 27 and 28, respectively, and the collection bag 41 is held by the vessel storage portion 29. The reservoirs 116 and 117 are held by the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13. The tubes 38 of the circuit are set in the valves V1 to V18, the supply pump 91, and the discharge pump 92.

A user sets beforehand the culture control portion 21 so that the culture step, the culture medium exchanging step, the culture step, the cell suspension concentrating step, and the cell suspension collecting step are successively performed. A user also sets beforehand various settings, such as the culture time in the culture step, the culture medium exchange amount in the culture medium exchanging step, the concentration time and the culture medium supply amount in the cell suspension concentrating step, and the reaction time with a peeling liquid in the cell suspension collecting step. The culture control portion 21 outputs a first information containing various setting information in the culture step, outputs a second information containing various setting information in the culture medium exchanging step, and outputs a third information containing various setting information in the cell suspension collecting step. The culture control portion 21 outputs various setting information in the cell suspension concentrating step. The rotation control portion 20 controls the drive of the rotation mechanism 34 based on each information output from the culture control portion 21. The supply/discharge control portion 22 controls the drive of the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 (liquid supply mechanism 81 and liquid discharge mechanism 82) based on each information output from the culture control portion 21.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the culture portion 14 in the culture device 10 performs a preliminary operation due to the fact that the culture control portion 21 receives an input of start of culture. In detail, due to the fact that the warming device and the CO₂supply device are driven based on the control information from the culture control portion 21, the temperature of the culture portion 14 is adjusted to 37° C. and the carbon dioxide concentration is adjusted to 5% (Step S11). Subsequently, the rotation control portion 20 judges whether the first bag holding portion 31 is in the first position (Step S12). When the rotation control portion 20 judges that the first bag holding portion 31 is not in the first position, i.e., the stepping motor in the rotation mechanism 34 is not located at the original point position (Step S12: No), the rotation control portion 20 rotates the stepping motor of the rotation mechanism 34 until the stepping motor reaches the original point position. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the first bag holding portion 31 stops at the first position in which the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the horizontal direction (Step S13). When the first bag holding portion 31 is in the first position (Step S12: Yes), the rotation control portion 20 does not drive the rotation mechanism 34. The supporting surfaces 65 and 66 in the first position may be almost in parallel with the horizontal direction and do not need to be strictly in parallel with the horizontal direction. The valves V1 to V18 bring the tubes 38 into the closed state.

Subsequently, the supply/discharge control portion 22 supplies a cell suspension to the culture bag 70 (Step S14). The supply of the cell suspension to the culture bag 70 is performed according to the liquid supply step. In detail, as illustrated in FIG. 13, when the first bag holding portion 31 stops at the first position, the weight detector 23 detects the weight of the culture bag 70 and the first bag holding portion 31. According to information on the weight output from the weight detector 23, the control portion 11 sets a first reference value (Step S121). Subsequently, the control portion 11 calculates a value obtained by adding the weight of a cell suspension to be supplied to the culture bag 70 to the first reference value as a first target value. The weight of a liquid to be supplied to the culture bag 70 can be calculated based on the capacity of a cell suspension to be supplied to the culture bag 70. Assuming that the specific gravity of various liquids, such as a cell suspension, a culture medium, and a peeling liquid, is approximately 1, it may be regarded that the capacity (mL) and the weight (g) are equal. In Step S14, the cell suspension is supplied to the culture bag 70 but Step S14 may be omitted and a cell suspension may be manually charged into the culture bag 70 beforehand.

When the first bag holding portion 31 stops at the first position, the supply/discharge control portion 22 drives the liquid supply mechanism 81 to supply a liquid to the culture bag 70. In detail, the valves V6 and V9 are brought into the opened state (Step S122). Then, the supply pump 91 is driven (Step S123). The server bag 40 reserves beforehand a cell suspension containing cells to be cultured. Therefore, the cell suspension is supplied from the server bag 40 to the culture bag 70 through the port 73. While the cell suspension is being supplied to the culture bag 70, i.e., while the supply pump 91 is being driven, the control portion 11 monitors whether an output value of distance sensor 67 exceeds a preset threshold value (Step S124). When the control portion 11 judges that the output value of the distance sensor 67 exceeds the threshold value (Step S124: Yes), the control portion 11 issues an alarm by generating a buzzer sound or turning on a light (Step S126). Then, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91 (Step S128).

The control portion 11 monitors whether preset time has passed after the supply pump 91 is driven (Step S125). As the time, time longer than time enough for the supply pump 91 to supply a maximum amount of liquid to the culture bag 70 is set. When the control portion 11 judges that the preset time has passed after the supply pump 91 is driven (Step S125: Yes), the control portion 11 issues an alarm in the same manner as above (Step S126), and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91 (Step S128).

The control portion 11 monitors whether an output value of the weight detector 23 has reached the first target value while the supply pump 91 is being driven (Step S127). When the control portion 11 judges that the output value of the weight detector 23 has reached the first target value (Step S127: Yes), the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91 (Step S128) to bring the valves V6 and V9 into the closed state (Step S129). Thus, the supply (liquid supply step) of the cell suspension to the culture bag 70 is completed (Step S14).

Subsequently, as illustrated in FIG. 11, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 counterclockwise by 90°. Thus, as illustrated in FIGS. 14 and 15, the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into a third position where the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the vertical direction, the port 74 is located upward, and the port 73 is located downward (Step S15). To the edge 88 of the port 74 located upward in the culture bag 70 held by the first bag holding portion 31 in the third position, gas entering the internal space 75 gathers. Since the edge 88 has the tapered shape toward the port 74, the gas moving along the edge 88 gathers to the port 74. The supporting surfaces 65 and 66 in the third position may be in parallel with the approximately vertical direction and do not necessarily need to be strictly in parallel with the vertical direction.

The first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position, and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valves V6 and V9 into the closed state and brings the valves V13 and V15 into the opened state. Subsequently, the supply/discharge control portion 22 drives the discharge pump 92. Thus, a liquid or gas is discharged from the port 74 of the culture bag 70. When the gas remains in the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 when a cell suspension is supplied to the culture bag 70, the gas is discharged from the internal space 75 through the port 74 (Step S16). Thus, a preliminary operation is completed.

After the preliminary operation is completed, the culture control portion 21 successively performs the culture step (Step S17), the culture medium exchanging step (Step S18), the culture step (Step S19), and the cell suspension collecting step (Step S20). The details of each step are described later. When a direction of performing subculture is input into the culture control portion 21 after the cell suspension collecting step (Step S21: Yes), a cell suspension collected by the other culture bags 80 and 90 is supplied in order to perform the subculture (Step S22). When a direction of performing subculture is not input (Step S22: No), the culture control portion 21 does not perform subculture. Thereafter, a cell suspension concentrating step (Step S23) is performed.

[Culture Step]

Hereinafter, the culture step is described. When the culture step is performed, the culture control portion 21 outputs the first information to the rotation control portion 20 and the supply/discharge control portion 22. As illustrated in FIG. 12 and FIG. 16, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to bring the first bag holding portion 31 into the first position (Step S24). Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 17(A), the inner surface 71 is located upward and the inner surface 72 is located downward in the culture bag 70. The internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 reserves a cell suspension containing cells to be cultured and a culture medium. In the internal space 75, the cells descend in the cell suspension by gravity to contact the inner surface 72. Thus, the cells adhere to the inner surface 72 to be cultured.

As illustrated in FIG. 16, the rotation control portion 20 maintains the first bag holding portion 31 in the first position until the preset time passes (Step S25: No). After the preset time has passed (Step S25: Yes), the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 clockwise by 180° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10 (Step S26). Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 17(B) and FIG. 18, the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into a fourth position in which the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the horizontal direction, the inner surface 72 of the culture bag 70 is located upward, and the inner surfaces 71 is located downward. When the inner surface 72 is located upward and the inner surfaces 71 is located downward in the culture bag 70, cells contained in the cell suspension reserved in the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 and not adhering to the inner surface 72 descend in the cell suspension by gravity to contact the inner surface 71. Thus, the cells adhere to the inner surface 71 to be cultured. The rotation control portion 20 maintains the first bag holding portion 31 in the fourth position until the preset time passes (Step S27: No). When the preset time has passed, the culture step is completed (Step S27: Yes).

[Culture Medium Exchanging Step]

Hereinafter, the culture medium exchanging step is described. The culture medium exchanging step is an example of a solution exchanging step. When the culture medium exchanging step is performed, the culture control portion 21 outputs the second information to the rotation control portion 20 and the supply/discharge control portion 22. The valve V1 and the valve V7 through which the tubes 38, which are connected to the reservoir 117 reserving a fresh culture medium stored in the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13, are passed are brought into the opened state, and then the supply pump 91 is driven to supply the fresh culture medium to the server bag 39. Thereafter, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, brings the valve V1 into the closed state, and then brings the valve V6 into the opened state. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valves V6 and V7 through which the tubes 38, which are connected to the server bags 39 and 40, are passed into the opened state, and then reversely drives the supply pump 91 to supply a fresh culture medium to the server bag 40. Thereafter, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, and then brings the valves V6 and V7 into the closed state. The fresh culture medium is held in the server bag 40 to be warmed to 37° C.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 in the first position clockwise by 30° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10. Thus, as illustrated in FIGS. 20 and 21, the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the second position in which the acute angle formed by the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 with respect to the horizontal direction is 30° and the port 73 is located upward and the port 74 is located downward (Step S31). In the second position, the acute angle formed by the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 with respect to the horizontal direction is not limited to 30° and may be arbitrarily set insofar as the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are not in parallel with the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. Preferably, the acute angle formed by the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 with respect to the horizontal direction is 20° or more and 70° or less. More preferably, the acute angle is 30° or more and 60° or less.

Subsequently, the supply/discharge control portion 22 discharges the culture medium from the culture bag 70 (Step S32). The discharge of the culture medium from the culture bag 70 is performed according to the liquid supply step. In detail, when the first bag holding portion 31 stops at the second position as illustrated in FIG. 22, the weight detector 23 detects the weights of the culture bag 70 and the first bag holding portion 31. According to information on the weight output from the weight detector 23, the control portion 11 sets a second reference value (Step S141). Subsequently, the control portion 11 calculates a value obtained by subtracting the weight of a culture medium to be discharged from the culture bag 70 from the second reference value as a second target value.

When the first bag holding portion 31 stops at the second position, the supply/discharge control portion 22 drives the liquid discharge mechanism 82 to discharge the culture medium from the culture bag 70. When described in detail, the valves V13 and V15 are brought into the opened state (Step S142). Subsequently, the discharge pump 92 is driven (Step S143). The control portion 11 monitors whether the preset time has passed after the discharge pump 92 is driven (Step S144). As the time, time longer than time enough for the discharge pump 92 to discharge the half amount of a liquid from the culture bag 70 is set. When the control portion 11 judges that the preset time has passed after the discharge pump 92 is driven (Step S144: Yes), the control portion 11 issues an alarm in the same manner as above (Step S145), and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the discharge pump 92 (Step S147).

The control portion 11 monitors whether the output value of the weight detector 23 has reached the second target value while the discharge pump 92 is being driven (Step S146). When the control portion 11 judges that the output value of the weight detector 23 has reached the second target value (Step S146: Yes), the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the discharge pump 92 (Step S147) and brings the valves V13 and V15 into the closed state (Step S148). Thus, the half of the culture medium reserved in the culture bag 70 is discharged from the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 (Liquid discharging step) (Step S32). Due to the fact that the first bag holding portion 31 is maintained at the second position, the discharge of the culture medium from the port 74 is facilitated. Even when the half of the culture medium is discharged from the culture bag 70, the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bag 70 are difficult to contact each other as illustrated in FIG. 21.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, after the half culture medium is discharged from the culture bag 70, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanisms 34 to bring the first bag holding portion 31 into the first position (Step S33). After the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the first position, the valve V6 and V9 are brought into the opened state, and then the supply of the culture medium to the culture bag 70 is performed in the same manner as in the liquid supply step described above. Thus, the fresh culture medium reserved in the server bag 40 is supplied to the culture bag 70 (Step S34). The amount of the fresh culture medium to be supplied to the culture bag 70 is the same as the amount of the culture medium previously discharged from the culture bag 70, i.e., the half amount of the culture medium reserved in the internal space 75. After the fresh culture medium is supplied to the culture bag 70, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, and then brings the valve V6 and V9 into the closed state.

After the fresh culture medium is supplied to the culture bag 70, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 in the first position counterclockwise by 90° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 14, the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position in which the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the vertical direction, the port 73 is located downward, and the port 74 is located upward (Step S35). After the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position, the supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valves V13 and V15 into the opened state, and then drives the discharge pump 92. Thus, even when gas is mixed in the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70, the gas is discharged from the internal space 75 with the culture medium through the port 74 (Step S36). Then, the discharge pump 92 is stopped, and then the valves V13 and V15 are brought into the closed state, so that the culture medium exchanging step (Step S18) is completed.

When the culture medium exchanging step (Step S18) is completed, the culture step (Step S19) is performed in the same manner as above. The culture medium exchanging step and the culture step may be further repeated after subculture. When the amount of the cells increases in the culture step repeated after subculture, the cell suspension may be moved to the culture bags 80 and 90 from the culture bag 70 so that the culture bags 80 and 90 having a capacity larger than that of the culture bag 70 are used. After the culture step (Step S19) repeatedly performed as necessary, the cell suspension collecting step (Step S20) and the cell suspension concentrating step (Step S23) are performed.

[Cell Suspension Collecting Step]

Hereinafter, the cell suspension collecting step is described. The cell suspension collecting step is an example of a solution discharging step. When the cell suspension collecting step is performed, the culture control portion 21 outputs the third information to the rotation control portion 20 and the supply/discharge control portion 22. As illustrated in FIG. 23, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 in the fourth position counterclockwise by 90° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 24 and FIG. 25, the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position in which the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are in parallel with the vertical direction, the port 73 is located upward, and the port 74 is located downward (Step S41). In this embodiment, any position is referred to as the third position insofar as the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 of the first bag holding portion 31 are in parallel with the vertical direction irrespective of the positions (upward or downward) of the ports 73 and 74.

As illustrated in FIG. 23, after the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position, the culture medium is discharged from the culture bag 70. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valve V13 and V15 into the opened state, and then drives the discharge pump 92. Thus, the entire amount of the culture medium reserved in the culture bag 70 is discharged from the internal space 75 through the port 74 (Step S42). After the entire amount of the culture medium is discharged from the culture bag 70, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to bring the first bag holding portion 31 in the third position into the first position (Step S43).

After the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the first position, a peeling liquid is supplied to the culture bag 70. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings anyone of the valves V3 to V5 through which the tube 38, which is connected to a vessel reserving a peeling liquid stored in the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13, is passed and the valve V9 into the opened state, and then drives the supply pump 91. Thus, the peeling liquid is supplied to the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 through the port 73 (Step S44). After the peeling liquid is supplied to the culture bag 70, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, and then brings any one of the valves V3 to V5 and V9, which are brought into the opened state, into the closed state. The rotation control portion 20 maintains the first bag holding portion 31 in the first position until the preset time passes (Step S45: No). The peeling liquid weakens the adhesion to the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bag 70 of the cells adhering to the inner surfaces 71 and 72. Such an action of weakening the adhesion of the cells to the inner surfaces 71 and 72 is realized by setting the type and the concentration of the peeling liquid, the contact time with the inner surfaces 71 and 72, the position of, for example, the first bag holding portion 31, and the like as appropriate. After the peeling liquid is supplied to the culture bag 70, gas may be discharged from the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 as necessary in the same manner as above.

After the preset time has passed (Step S45: Yes), the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 counterclockwise by 90° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10 to bring the same into the third position (Step S46). After the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position, the discharge of the peeling liquid from the culture bag 70 is performed in the same manner as in the liquid discharging step described above. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valves V6 and V9 into the opened state, and then reversely drives the supply pump 91. Thus, the peeling liquid is discharged from the internal space 75 through the port 73 in the culture bag 70 to the waste liquid vessel 19 (Step S47). After the entire amount of the peeling liquid is discharged from the culture bag 70, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 clockwise by 90° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10 to bring the same into the first position (Step S48).

After the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the first position, a culture medium is supplied to the culture bag 70. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings any one of the valves V3 to V5 through which the tube 38, which is connected to a vessel reserving the culture medium stored in the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13, is passed and the valve V9 into the opened state, and then drives the supply pump 91. Thus, the culture medium is supplied to the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 through the port 73 (Step S49). After the culture medium is supplied to the culture bag 70, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, and then brings any one of the valves V3 to V5 and V9, which are brought into the opened state, into the closed state. The rotation control portion 20 maintains the first bag holding portion 31 in the first position until the preset time passes (Step S50). By the supply of the culture medium, the cells adhering to the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bag 70 are peeled off. The peeling of the cells from the inner surfaces 71 and 72 by the supply of the culture medium is realized by setting the flow velocity of the culture medium, the position of, for example, the first bag holding portion 31, the period of time when it is allowed to stand, and the like as appropriate. After the culture medium is supplied to the culture bag 70, gas may be discharged from the internal space 75 of the culture bag 70 as necessary in the same manner as above.

After the preset time has passed (Step S50), the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the first bag holding portion 31 counterclockwise by 90° as viewed from the front of the culture device 10 to bring the same into the third position (Step S51). After the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position, the discharge of a cell suspension from the culture bag 70 is performed in the same manner as in the liquid discharging step described above. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valves V6 and V9 into the opened state, and then reversely drives the supply pump 91. Thus, the cell suspension is discharged from the internal space 75 through the port 73 (Step S52) in the culture bag 70 to be collected by the server bag 40. Thus, the cell suspension collecting step (Step S20) is completed.

[Cell Suspension Concentrating Step]

Hereinafter, the cell suspension concentrating step (Step S23) is described. A method for concentrating a cell suspension using the concentrator 120 includes each step described below.

(4-1) Moving step of moving a cell suspension to the server bag 40 from the culture bag 70.

(4-2) Priming step of supplying a priming liquid to the concentrator 120.

(4-3) Filtering step of supplying a cell suspension to the concentrator 120.

(4-4) Collecting step of collecting a cell suspension from the concentrator 120.

As illustrated in FIG. 26, a cell suspension is moved to the server bag 40 from the culture bag 70 (Step S151). The moving step is performed in the cell suspension collecting step described above.

Subsequently, the rotation control portion 20 judges whether the concentrator support portion 104 is in a first state (Step S152). The first state is a state where the axial direction of the body 106 of the concentrator 120 is in parallel with the vertical direction and the inflow port 110 is located downward relative to the first discharge port 111 (FIG. 7(B)). When the concentrator support portion 104 is not in the first state (Step S152: No), the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanism 34 to rotate the concentrator support portion 104 to the first position (Step S153). In the first state, the axial direction of the body 106 of the concentrator 120 does not necessarily need to be in parallel with the vertical direction.

Then, priming (Step S154) is performed. As illustrated in FIG. 7(B), a priming liquid is supplied to the concentrator 120 supported by the concentrator support portion 104 in the first state. The priming liquid is a phosphate buffer or the like, for example. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valve V2 connected to the reservoir 116 which is held by the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13 and reserves the priming liquid, and the valve V8, V13, and V14 into the opened state, and then drives the supply pump 91. Thus, the priming liquid is supplied to the concentrator 120 through the inflow port 110. The air, substances charged for storing the hollow fiber bundle 109, and the like are discharged from the first outflow port 111 of the concentrator 120 in such a manner as to be pressed out by the priming liquid. The supply/discharge control portion 22 monitors whether the preset time has passed after the supply pump 91 is driven. As the time, time longer than time enough for the supply pump 91 to discharge the gas from the inside of the concentrator 120 is set. When the supply/discharge control portion 22 judges that the preset time has passed after the supply pump 91 is driven, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, and then brings the valve V2 and the valves V13 and V14 into the closed state. Thus, the priming step is completed.

After the priming step is completed, the rotation control portion 20 drives the rotation mechanisms 34 to rotate the concentrator support portion 104 by 180° (Step S155). Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 7(C), the concentrator 120 is brought into a second state. The second state is a state where the axial direction of the body 106 of the concentrator 120 is in parallel with the vertical direction and the inflow port 110 is located upward relative to the first discharge port 111. In the second state, the axial direction of the body 106 of the concentrator 120 does not necessarily need to be in parallel with the vertical direction.

Subsequently, the filtering step (Step S156) is performed. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valves V6 and V12 into the opened state, and then drives the supply pump 91. Thus, a cell suspension is supplied to the concentrator 120 through the inflow port 110 from the server bag 40. The cell suspension supplied to the concentrator 120 flows through the inside of the hollow fiber bundle 109, and then cells contained in the cell suspension precipitate to the downside of the inside of the hollow fiber bundle 109 to stay near the first outflow port 111. On the other hand, a liquid, such as a culture medium, contained in the cell suspension flows out to the outside of the hollow fiber bundle 109, and then is caused to flow out to the outside of the concentrator 120 through the second outflow port 112. Thus, the cell suspension which is caused to flow in the concentrator 120 is held in a concentrated state in the hollow fiber bundle 109 and near the first outflow port 111. After the entire amount of the cell suspension is supplied to the concentrator 120, the supply/discharge control portion 22 stops the supply pump 91, and then brings the valve V6 and V12 into the closed state. Thus, the filtering step is completed (Step S156).

Subsequently, the collecting step (Step S157) is performed. The supply/discharge control portion 22 brings the valve V1 connected to the reservoir 117 reserving the fresh culture medium stored in the cold storage portion 12 or the normal temperature storage portion 13 and the valves V14 and V18 into the opened state, and then drives the supply pump 91. Thus, the fresh culture medium is supplied to the concentrator 120 through the inflow port 110 as illustrated in FIG. 7(D). In the concentrator 120, the fresh culture medium flowing through the hollow fiber bundle 109 is caused to flow out of the concentrator 120 to the collection bag 41 through the first discharge port 111 with the concentrated cell suspension. Thus, the collecting step is completed (Step S157). The concentrated cell suspension is caused to flow in the collection bag 41 but may be caused to flow in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90.

[Operational Effects of this Embodiment]

According to this embodiment, the cell culture is performed in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the first position, respectively. In the first position, since the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 of the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 are in parallel with the approximately horizontal direction, one of the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 is held in a state in parallel with the approximately horizontal direction. Thus, the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 are stably supported by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 and adhesive cells, for example, adhere to the inner surface 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 to be cultured.

In the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the third position, respectively, a cell suspension is caused to flow out through the port 74. In the third position, the supporting surfaces of the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 are in parallel with the approximately vertical direction, and therefore the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 are held in a state in parallel with the approximately vertical direction. Due to the fact that the port 74 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 is located downward in the vertical direction, a cell suspension is caused to flow out of the internal space 75 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 through the port 74 by gravity.

Culture medium exchanging is performed in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the second position, respectively. In the culture medium exchanging, culture media reserved in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 are partially caused to flow out. In the second position, the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 are not in parallel with the horizontal direction and the vertical direction. Therefore, due to the fact that the port 74 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 is located downward in the vertical direction, the culture media are caused to flow out of the internal space 75 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 through the port 74 by gravity but the deformation of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 by gravity is smaller than that in the third position. More specifically, a possibility that the inner surfaces 71 and 72 contact each other is reduced in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90. Thus, a possibility that cells are peeled off and fallen from the inner surfaces 71 and 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 is reduced, for example.

Moreover, in the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the second position, the culture media reserved in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 are caused to flow out through the port 74 located downward in the vertical direction of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90. Thereafter, in the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the first position, the culture media are caused to flow in the internal space 75 through the port 73 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90. Then, in the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the second position or the third position, the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 sucks a predetermined amount of a solution through the port 74 located upward in the vertical direction of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90. By the suction, even when gas enters the internal space 75 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 in the culture medium exchanging, the gas gathers near the port 74 located upward in the vertical direction of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 in the second position or the third position, and then the gas is sucked out of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 through the port 74.

Moreover, the ports 73 and 74 formed in the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 extend along a direction orthogonal to the rotating shafts 48 and 49 in the state of being held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33, and therefore gas or a liquid is efficiently caused to flow in and out of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90.

Moreover, the edges 87 and 88 which are edges demarcating the internal space 75 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 and in which the ports 73 and 74 are disposed have a shape of approaching the rotating shafts 48 and 49 as separating from the ports 73 and 74 in the state of being held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33. Therefore, when the port 74 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 is located upward in the vertical direction, gas easily gathers toward the port 74 in the internal space 75 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90.

Moreover, the rotation control portion 20 brings the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 into the first position according to the first information, and then brings the same into the fourth position in which the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 are rotated by 180° from the first position. Thus, in the first position, adhesive cells, for example, adhere to the inner surface 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 facing upward in the vertical direction to be cultured. In the fourth position, the inner surface 72 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 facing upward in the vertical direction in the first position faces downward in the vertical direction. On the other hand, the inner surface 71 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 facing downward in the vertical direction in the first position faces upward in the vertical direction. Thus, adhesive cells adhere to the inner surface 71 to which the adhesive cells are difficult to adhere in the first position to be cultured.

Moreover, the rotation control portion 20 brings the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 into the third position according to the third information, and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 to cause culture media to flow out through the port 74 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the third position. After the culture media are caused to flow out of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90, the rotation control portion 20 brings the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 into the first position, and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism. 37 to cause a peeling liquid to flow in through the port 73 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the first position. Subsequently, the rotation control portion 20 brings the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 into the third position, and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 to cause a peeling liquid to flow out through the port 74 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the third position. After the peeling liquid is completely caused to flow out of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90, the rotation control portion 20 brings the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 into the first position, and then the supply/discharge control portion 22 causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 to cause the culture media to flow in through the port 73 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the first position. Subsequently, the rotation control portion 20 brings the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 into the third position, and then, the supply/discharge control portion 22 causes the liquid supply/discharge mechanism 37 to cause a cell suspension to flow out of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 through the port 74 of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 held by the bag holding portions 31, 32, and 33 in the third position. Thus, the cell suspension containing the culture medium as a solvent is collected without performing centrifugal separation.

Due to the fact that the culture control portion 21 outputting the first information, the second information, and the third information to the rotation control portion 20 is further provided, the culture control portion 21 performs the culture step of outputting the first information, the culture medium exchanging step of outputting the second information, and the cell suspension collecting step of outputting the third information. Thus, the culture step, the culture medium exchanging step, and the cell suspension collecting step are automatically controlled and performed.

[Modification]

This embodiment describes the example in which the culture control portion 21 is set so that the culture step, the culture medium exchanging step, the culture step, and the cell suspension collecting step are successively performed but each step is arbitrarily set. Moreover, each step may be set so as to be individually and independently performed. More specifically, a setting may be acceptable that an operation of the culture device 10 is stopped in each step and a user arbitrarily inputs an operation of the culture device 10 to be performed next.

Moreover, in the cell culture, any one or a plurality of the culture bags 70, 80, and 90 can be arbitrarily used. Moreover, the server bags 39 and 40, the collection bag 41, and the like are arbitrary configurations and may be used as necessary.

Moreover, when discharging gas from the culture bag 70, the first bag holding portion 31 is brought into the third position but the second position may be used in place of the third position.

This embodiment describes the example of culturing adhesive cells but cells other than the adhesive cells may be cultured by the culture device 10.

Moreover, although the two ports 73 and 74 are formed in the culture bag 70, only one port may be formed. Moreover, any position may be referred to as the third position insofar as the supporting surfaces 65 and 66 of the first bag holding portion 31 are in parallel with the vertical direction irrespective of the positions (upward or downward) of the ports 73 and 74. In the case where only one port is formed, when a cell suspension is discharged from the culture bag 70 in the cell suspension collecting step, a position in which the port is located downward is referred to as the third position.

Moreover, this embodiment uses the culture bag 70 as a culture vessel but the culture vessel is not limited to a bag-shaped substance and substances having shapes with flexibility, such as a bottle and a cassette, may be used.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

10 Culture device

14 Culture portion

20 Rotation control portion

21 Culture control portion

22 Supply/discharge control portion

31, 32, 33 Bag holding portion

34 Rotation mechanism

37 Liquid supply/discharge mechanism

42, 43 Holding plate

48, 49 Rotation shaft

65, 66 Supporting surface

70, 80, 90 Culture bag

71, 72 Inner surface

73 Port

74 Port

77, 78 End portion

87, 88 Edge

Number	Name	Date	Kind
10793822	Sasayama	Oct 2020	B2
10883078	Sasayama	Jan 2021	B2
20080145924	Kobayashi et al.	Jun 2008	A1
20090042293	Hata et al.	Feb 2009	A1
20110159584	Gibbons	Jun 2011	A1
20130244322	Henon et al.	Sep 2013	A1
20140137274	Ishikawa	May 2014	A1
20150072401	Nozaki et al.	Mar 2015	A1
20160168529	Taniguchi	Jun 2016	A1
20180127704	Sasayama	May 2018	A1
20180148680	Sasayama	May 2018	A1

Number	Date	Country
2604680	Jun 2013	EP
2698427	Feb 2014	EP
2006055069	Mar 2006	JP
2007097407	Apr 2007	JP
2008148602	Jul 2008	JP
2009142212	Jul 2009	JP
2010213728	Sep 2010	JP
2015505472	Feb 2015	JP
2015084686	May 2015	JP
2015513347	May 2015	JP
2013116421	Aug 2013	WO
2013145235	Oct 2013	WO
2013081188	Jun 2015	WO

Culturing device

Information

Patent Number

Date Filed

Date Issued

Inventors

Original Assignees

Examiners

Agents

CPC

Field of Search

CPC

International Classifications

Disclaimer

Term Extension

Abstract

Description

Claims

Priority Claims (1)

PCT Information

US Referenced Citations (11)

Foreign Referenced Citations (13)

Related Publications (1)