Japanese PatentH3CH3CH3CH3CH3CH3CH3CH3CThe technical points of this patentA microbial particle counter detects the autofluorescence generated by irradiating a laser beam on the flavins (a coen-zyme involved in metabolic activity) present in the cells of microorganisms. Autofluorescence is the natural emitted by cells due to their structure and properties when exposed to light, something that requires no pretreatment processes to induce fluorescence artificially. Common bacteria like E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are known to exhibit strong autofluorescence, while bacteria found in highly purified nutrient-poor water, like pure water and purified water, the conventional target liquids of biological microbial particle counters, typically exhibit very weak autofluorescence and are difficult to detect.This patent is an innovation that makes it easier to detect such microbes using a microbial particle counter by boosting the autofluorescence of flavins through irradiation of deep UV light (UV-C: UV of wavelengths shorter than 280 nm) in ad-vance.Flavins exist in various states of oxidation-reduction inside microbes. The intensity of their autofluorescence is known to be stronger in the oxidized form than in the reduced form. Most fluorescent substances lose their autofluorescence ca-pacity when exposed to strong energy like deep UV light, due to the breaking of chemical bonds in the constituent atoms (by oxidation). But flavins are unique in that their fluorescence is significantly enhanced by oxidation.We sought to intensify autofluorescence by irradiating fla-vins found in various states of oxidation-reduction within the microbes with deep UV light, thereby breaking the N-H bond (by oxidation) to create oxidized flavins (Fig. 1) and dramatical-ly enhancing the detection sensitivity of the microbial particle counter.12 6126400 No.OxidationDeep UV irradiationInventor: Kazuma SekimotoApplication number: Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-23189 (P2013-23189) Filing date: February 8, 2013Date of publication of application: August 25, 2014Rion has contributed to society by applying for and registering numerous patents.This feature introduces these inventions and how they contribute to society.Part 2 introduces a patent for a method for detecting microbes using light.Fig. 1. Oxidation of flavin with deep UV irradiationPatents Obtained by Rion—The Patent Registration NAVI: Part 2RRHHNNNNOONHNHNNHHOOKazuma Sekimoto Advanced Technology Development Section, Development Department, Particle Counter Division. Joined the company in 2007 and has played a key role in advancing microbial particle counter technology. He proposed the innovative technology behind this pat-ent application and his work spans market research, product planning, prototype development, validation testing, and business promotion, all aimed at cultivating new markets and applications for the microbial particle counter.RRNNNNNHNHNNOOOOReduction type(autofluorescence: weak)The road to filing a patent applicationThe microbial particle counter detects (screens for) in-creases in the risk of microbial contamination in water in real time and in line, without needing human intervention for pre-treatment. At the very beginning of our research and develop-ment, the detection sensitivity of microbial particle counters was extremely low for bacteria in water. We struggled to find a solution by testing one idea after another. One day, we were carrying out an experiment to see how various steriliza-tion treatments on microbes changed their autofluores-cence. We discovered that autofluorescence increased, though just slightly, when the bacteria were sterilized with ultraviolet light. From there, we focused on UV irradiation and carried out further research by chang-ing the irradiation dose and wavelength and found that there was an optimal irradi-ation dose and wavelength Oxidation type (autofluorescence: strong)Using the properties of flavins to detect microbes!Microbial Particle Counter System and Microbial Particle Counting MethodTHE PATENT
元のページ ../index.html#14