NucleoCounter® SCC-100™ Instrument
Counting of Somatic Cells in Milk
The NucleoCounter SCC-100 instrument is basically an integrated fluorescence microscope. The instrument contains an aluminium profile which holds all the essential parts for the fluorescence microscope together with the computer that performs the image analysis needed for the counting of somatic cells in the milk sample. Beside from the fluorescence microscope the instrument also contains a printer port, USB port, DC input voltage port, a Keyboard and a Display.
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Fluorescence Microscope
The excitation source consist of Light Emitting Diodes (LED's). LED's have high stability and are very durable and therefore the lifetime of the light source is virtually infinitely. The excitation filter removes all wavelengths from the excitation light except the green light which illuminates the sample. The emission filter lets only the red fluorescence light pass.
Both filters are made as hard-coated interference filters, which have a high durability and excellent blocking properties for the light to be suppressed. The red fluorescence light from the particles in the sample is focused onto the detector (CCD camera). The optical imaging system is made of identical lenses and both lenses are fastened securely. One of the key features of the NucleoCounter is the low magnification of the microscope. The effect of the low magnification is the large area of the sample which is represented in each image.
The section which is blown-up in the figure illustrates approximately the field of view in traditional microscopy methods. The effect of low magnification is clearly visible in the limited spatial representation of each cell, which only expands few pixels.
User Interface
The NucleoCounter user interface consist of an alphanumeric display (4 lines of 16 characters) and a numerical Keyboard with the keys 0-9, four special keys, a RUN key and an On/Off key. An LED indicater is green when the instrument is "Ready" and red when the instrument is "Busy" The User's Guide explains in detail how the user interface works.
PC Connection
The NucleoCounter can be connected to a PC using the USB port on the rear. The USB port of the PC must comply with USB ver. 1.1. The USB port is used for transmision of image data. The so-called "Raw Image" and the "Processed Image" is transferred from the NucleoCounter to a PC after the analysis has taken place within the instrument. A special program is required for the PC for performing the image transfer. The "Raw Image" and the "Processed Image" are presented in one the FAQs for the NucleoCounter, which is presented here.
It must be noted that all calculations, cell counting and data analysis is performed in the NucleoCounter Instrument which is a true stand-alone instrument. The transfer of image data to a PC provide the user with additional documentation only.