Preprocessing apparatus and analysis system comprising the preprocessing apparatus

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a preprocessing apparatus that makes it possible to highly efficiently analyze specimens held by solid media, such as dried blood spots to be used for newborn mass screening or the like. The preprocessing apparatus includes: a preprocessing container setting part in which a preprocessing container containing a solid sample including a specimen to be analyzed and a solid medium holding the specimen is to be set; a carrying mechanism that carries the preprocessing container set in the preprocessing container setting part; and a preprocessing part that has a port for setting the preprocessing container carried by the carrying mechanism and that is configured to perform preprocessing including extraction processing for extracting the specimen from the solid sample contained in the preprocessing container set in the port.

1 . A preprocessing apparatus comprising:
 a preprocessing container setting part in which a preprocessing container containing a solid sample comprising a specimen to be analyzed and a solid medium holding the specimen is to be set;   a carrying mechanism that carries the preprocessing container set in the preprocessing container setting part; and   a preprocessing part that has a port for setting the preprocessing container carried by the carrying mechanism and that is configured to perform preprocessing including extraction processing for extracting the specimen from the solid sample contained in the preprocessing container set in the port.   
     
     
         2 . The preprocessing apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the preprocessing container setting part is configured to allow an empty preprocessing container containing no specimen to be also set therein,   the preprocessing apparatus further comprising:   a specimen setting part in which a specimen container containing a liquid specimen is to be set;   a specimen dispensing part that takes the specimen from the specimen container set in the specimen setting part and dispenses the specimen into the empty preprocessing container placed in a predetermined dispensing position; and   a specimen recognition part that checks whether a specimen to be analyzed is a liquid specimen or a specimen contained in the solid sample.   
     
     
         3 . The preprocessing apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising a preprocessing operation part that is configured to, when the specimen recognition part recognizes that a specimen to be analyzed is a liquid specimen, allow the carrying mechanism to carry the empty preprocessing container set in the preprocessing container setting part to the dispensing position, allow the specimen dispensing part to dispense the specimen to be analyzed into the preprocessing container, and then allow the carrying mechanism to carry the preprocessing container to the preprocessing part to perform predetermined preprocessing, and that is configured to, when the specimen recognition part recognizes that a specimen to be analyzed is a specimen contained in the solid sample, allow the carrying mechanism to carry the preprocessing container containing the solid sample and set in the preprocessing container setting part to the preprocessing part to perform predetermined preprocessing including the extraction processing. 
     
     
         4 . The preprocessing apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein
 the preprocessing part has a plurality of extraction ports for performing the extraction processing, and   the preprocessing operation part is configured to, when the specimen recognition part recognizes that a specimen to be analyzed is a specimen contained in the solid sample, search the available extraction port and allow the carrying mechanism to carry the target preprocessing container to the available extraction port to perform the extraction processing.   
     
     
         5 . The preprocessing apparatus according to  claim 2 , wherein
 the preprocessing container setting part is configured to allow a plurality of preprocessing containers to be set therein,   the preprocessing apparatus further comprising:   a solid sample setting information holding part that holds information about a position where the preprocessing container containing the solid sample is set in the preprocessing container setting part; and   a preprocessing container identification part configured to, when a specimen to be analyzed is a specimen contained in the solid sample, identify the preprocessing container containing the solid sample containing the specimen on a basis of the information held in the solid specimen setting information holding part.   
     
     
         6 . An analysis system comprising:
 the preprocessing apparatus according to  claim 1  comprising a transfer device that has a transfer port where the preprocessing container containing a specimen that has been subjected to preprocessing in the preprocessing part is to be set by the carrying mechanism and that is configured to move the transfer port to transfer the container set in the transfer port to an outside of the preprocessing apparatus; and   a liquid chromatographic system that is provided adjacent to the preprocessing apparatus and that has an analytical flow path that allows a mobile phase to flow therethrough, a sample injector that takes, as a sample, the specimen contained in the container moved to the outside of the preprocessing apparatus by the transfer device and injects the sample into the analytical flow path, an analytical column provided on the analytical flow path to separate the sample injected by the sample injector into individual components, and a detector that detects the sample components separated by the analytical column.