Patent Document ID: 20160282324
Application ID: 15034023
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for examining a plurality of cultured cells for the presence of periodic structures of at least one target component contained in the cultured cells, the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of cultured cells to be examined, fixing the cultured cells to be examined while maintaining any structures of the at least one target component contained in the cultured cells, staining the at least one target component contained in the fixed cultured cells using a first staining agent binding to the at least one target component and capable of emitting light of a first wavelength upon stimulation, stimulating the first staining agent causing it to emit light of the first wavelength, taking a two-dimensional image of the fixed cultured cells with the first staining agent emitting light of the first wavelength, deriving from this two-dimensional image of the fixed cultured cells a two-dimensional first filtered image showing in bright only those portions containing the at least one target component to which the first staining agent has bound, auto-correlating the first filtered image, or cross-correlating the first filtered image with a second two-dimensional filtered image derived from the two-dimensional image of the fixed cultured cells and showing in bright only those portions other than the ones containing the at least one target component to which the first staining agent has bound, to obtain a two-dimensional correlation image, and determining the presence or absence of periodic structures of the at least one target component contained in the fixed cultured cells by determining whether there are periodic structures of maxima and minima in brightness in the correlation image.