Inventors: Pruitt, Terrell, Cochran, Stephen A, Marshall, Bryan others
Assignee: ADERANS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC
Publication date: 2007-10-04
Invention summary:
Micrometer assisted fluid e.g. collagen, delivery device for use in hair replacement therapy, has needle attached to head portion of detachable syringe cartridge and connected to interior channel of syringe body
Abstract:
The present invention provides fluid and material delivery methods and devices for practicing the methods. The invention provides a method of delivering cellular material comprising injecting the cellular material into a subject such that the injected cells retain their inherent morphologic characteristics upon injection. The method comprises the steps of aspirating the cellular material into a fluid delivery device which incorporates a syringe arrangement. The cellular material is aspirated into the main body of the syringe until the desired amount of a material has filled the syringe body. The needle of the fluid delivery device is then inserted into the skin of a subject at an angle about parallel to the skin until a desired depth has been reached. The cellular material is then injected in the subject until the desired volume of material has been injected. The needle of the device is then rotated approximately 45 to 90 degrees and the needle is removed from the injection site.
First Claim:
A fluid delivery device comprising: a housing body having an exterior and an interior and a syringe cartridge aperture; a pinion housing attached to the interior of the housing body, the pinion housing having a pinion receiving aperture; a pinion which is received by the pinion receiving aperture, and attached to the pinion housing such that it can rotate within the pinion receiving aperture, the pinion comprising a front section having gear ridges, a syringe receiving aperture, and a rear section; a detachable syringe cartridge having a head portion, a syringe body, a main portion, a plunger and a needle; the head portion engages the housing body and is attached to the syringe body; the syringe body has an interior channel; the main body has an interior channel, the main body being attached to the syringe body and the interior channel of the main body having a threaded portion; the plunger is received by the interior channels of the syringe body and the main body, the plunger having a plunger tip, a threaded screw section which engages with the threaded portion of the interior channel of the main body, and a tail section which is received by the syringe receiving aperture of the pinion and which engages with the rear section of the pinion; the needle is attached to the head portion of the syringe cartridge and is operatively connected to the interior channel of the syringe body; and a trigger portion having a tab section which is adapted to engage with the gear ridges of the pinion when depressed, the trigger portion being attached at one end to the pinion housing.
Background:
Current methods for injecting small amounts of material are problematic. One solution has been to use micrometer heads along with a syringe to deliver precise small amounts of fluid from a syringe. There are, however, problems with this current technology. Firstly, while commercially available micrometer heads allow for the plunger of a syringe to be depressed, they do not contain a mechanism to “pull back” the plunger in order to aspirate discreet amounts of fluid into a syringe. Secondly, the design of standard micrometer/syringe systems leads to a large arrangement that is unwieldy to operate and often requires two hands to operate, one to hold the syringe steady, the other to operate the micrometer head. The present invention provides a new micrometer assembly that overcomes these problems.
Another problem with injecting small amounts of material such as cells, is the damage that is done to the material when it is injected. When small amounts of cells are injected, the aspiration of cells into a syringe often causes damage to the morphology of the cells, which can impact their viability when injected into a host. Furthermore, when only small amounts of material are injected, the removal of the needle injecting the material can often “pull back” some of the material out of the injection site when removed. The present invention provides new delivery assemblies and methods which overcome these problems.
Summary:
The present invention provides fluid and material delivery devices, and methods for delivering fluid and material to a subject.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method of delivering cellular material into the skin of a subject comprising injecting the cellular material into the skin of a subject such that the injected cells retain their inherent morphologic characteristics upon injection. The method comprises the steps of aspirating the cellular material into a fluid delivery device which incorporates a syringe arrangement. The cellular material is aspirated into the main body of the syringe until the desired amount of a material has filled the syringe body. The needle of the fluid delivery device is then inserted into the skin of a subject at an angle about parallel to the skin until a desired depth has been reached. The cellular material is then injected in the subject until the desired volume of material has been injected. The needle of the device is then rotated approximately 45 to 90 degrees and the needle is removed from the injection site.
In another aspect of the invention, the invention provides delivery devices that can be used to deliver fluid and material using the method of the invention, or other delivery methods.
In one embodiment, the invention comprises a micrometer assisted fluid delivery device comprising a micrometer, a holder portion, and a syringe. The syringe comprises a main body having an interior channel that receives a plunger. The main body of the syringe can optionally have finger tabs. The plunger comprises an elongated shaft, a plunger head and optionally a tabbed end section. The micrometer has a main body, an adjustment thimble and a spindle. The holder portion comprises a main body having a front section and a back section. The main body of the micrometer is attached to the back section of the main body of the holder portion. The main body of the syringe is attached to the front section of the main body of the holder portion and a portion of the plunger is attached to the spindle of the micrometer.
In another embodiment of the micrometer assisted fluid delivery device, the holder portion of the device comprises a main body having a front section, an intermediate section, and a back section. The main body of the holder portion has a top, a bottom and two side walls. The front section of the holder portion has a front face, a back face, side walls that extend from the side walls of the main body, and a syringe body receiving channel. The intermediate section of the holder portion has a front face, a back face, side walls that extend from the side walls of the main body and a syringe plunger receiving channel. The back section of the holder portion has a front face, a back face, side walls that extend from the side walls of the main body and a micrometer receiving aperture that passes from the front face to the back face of the back section. The main body of the micrometer is received by the micrometer receiving aperture of the back section of the holder portion and the main body of the syringe is received by the syringe body receiving channel. The plunger is received by the syringe plunger receiving channel. Finger tabs of the syringe are positioned between the intermediate and the front section of the main body of the holder portion and the spindle of the micrometer is in contact with the tabbed end section of the syringe. The spindle can alternatively be attached to the plunger.
In still another embodiment of the micrometer assisted fluid delivery device, the holder portion of the device comprises a main body having a front face, a back face, a top, a bottom, two side walls, an interior channel, a syringe finger tab channel, a syringe body channel, a syringe plunger channel and a micrometer receiving aperture which passes through the back face of the main body to the interior channel of the main body. The main body of the micrometer is received by the micrometer receiving aperture of the holder portion and the main body of the syringe is received by the syringe body receiving channel of the holder portion. The plunger is received by the syringe plunger channel of the holder portion and the finger tabs of the syringe are received by the syringe finger tab channel. The spindle of the micrometer is in turn in contact with the tabbed end section of the syringe. The spindle can alternatively be attached to the plunger. In one embodiment, the spindle is attached by way of a syringe plunger holder. The syringe plunger holder comprises a main body having a front face, a back face, a side wall, a syringe tabbed end section channel which receives the syringe tabbed end section, a syringe plunger channel which receives the syringe plunger, and a spindle channel which receives the spindle of the micrometer. The main body of the syringe plunger holder can further contain a spindle securing threaded aperture that receives a screw which can be tightened to secure the spindle of the micrometer.
In yet another embodiment of the micrometer assisted fluid delivery device, the device comprises a micrometer and a syringe as described above, and a holder portion and a syringe plunger yoke. The holder portion comprises a main body having a front face, a back face, a top, a bottom, side walls, a syringe body channel, a plunger yoke channel, and a micrometer receiving aperture located on the front face and passing through to the plunger yoke channel. The syringe plunger yoke comprises a main body having a front face, a back face, a top, a bottom and side walls. The main body of the micrometer is received by the micrometer receiving aperture of the holder portion and the main body of the syringe is received by the syringe body channel of the holder portion. Both the plunger and the spindle of the micrometer are attached to the syringe plunger yoke. In one embodiment, the plunger of the syringe is received by a syringe plunger channel located on the bottom of the syringe plunger yoke. When the syringe has a tabbed end section, the tabbed end section can be received by a syringe plunger tabbed end section channel located on the bottom of the syringe plunger yoke. When the syringe has finger tabs, the finger tabs can be received by a syringe tab channel in the main body of the holder portion. In this arrangement, the device can further comprise a syringe holder block which is also received by the syringe tab channel. The syringe block holder has a syringe plunger channel that receives the syringe plunger. The syringe plunger block secures the finger tabs of the syringe to the main body of the holder portion by pressure exerted on the syringe plunger block by a spring located in a spring channel located in the main body of the holder portion. The spring channel extends from the back face of the main body of the holder portion to the syringe tab channel. Another optional feature of this embodiment of the fluid delivery device is that the spindle of the micrometer is attached to the syringe plunger yoke within a spindle receiving aperture, the spindle being friction fit within the spindle receiving aperture.
In another embodiment of the invention, the micrometer assisted fluid delivery devices described above can be used to deliver material into a subject by a method comprising first aspirating a material into the fluid delivery device by turning the micrometer thimble until the desired amount of a material has filled the syringe body of the fluid delivery device. Next, the needle of the fluid delivery device is inserted into the skin of a subject at an injection site at an angle about parallel to the skin of the subject at the injection site until a desired depth has been reached. The material is then injected into the subject by turning the micrometer adjustment thimble, in increments, until the desired volume has been injected. The fluid delivery device, and in turn the needle of the device, is then rotated approximately 45 to 90 degrees and then the needle is removed from the injection site.
In another embodiment of the invention, the invention provides a fluid delivery device comprising a housing body, a pinion housing, a pinion, a detachable syringe cartridge, and a trigger portion on the housing body. The housing body has an exterior and an interior with the pinion housing secured on the interior of the housing body. The pinion housing has an aperture designed to receive the pinion. The pinion is in turn secured to the pinion housing so that it can rotate within the pinion receiving aperture. The pinion itself has a front section having gear ridges, a syringe cartridge receiving aperture and a rear section. The syringe cartridge comprises a head portion, a syringe body, a main portion, a plunger and a needle. The head portion of the syringe cartridge engages with a portion of the housing body to secure the syringe cartridge to the housing body. The head portion is attached to the syringe body which has an interior channel. The syringe body is connected to the main body portion of the cartridge. The main body of the cartridge also has an interior channel which is aligned with the interior channel of the syringe body. The interior channel of the main body has a threaded portion. The plunger of the syringe cartridge is received by the interior channels of the syringe body and the main body. The plunger has a plunger tip, a threaded screw section which engages with the threaded portion of the interior channel of the main body in a screw like fashion, and a tail section. The tail section of the plunger is received by the syringe receiving aperture of the pinion and engages with the rear section of the pinion such that when the pinion is turned the syringe plunger is turned and moves forward in the syringe body. The needle of the syringe cartridge is attached to the head portion and is operatively connected to the interior channel of the syringe body. The trigger portion of the device has a tab section which is adapted to engage with a gear ridge of the pinion when depressed, the trigger portion being attached at one end to the pinion housing.
In another embodiment of the invention, the fluid delivery device described above can be used to deliver material into a subject by a method comprising first loading a syringe cartridge into the housing body of the fluid delivery device, wherein the syringe body is filled with a desired amount of material. The needle of the fluid delivery device is inserted into the skin of a subject at an injection site at an angle about parallel to the skin of the subject at the injection site until a desired depth has been reached. The material is then injected into the subject by depressing the trigger portion of the fluid delivery device. The fluid delivery device, and in turn the needle of the device, is then rotated approximately 45 to 90 degrees and then the needle is removed from the injection site.
In another embodiment of the invention, the invention comprises a cellular material delivery device. The cellular material delivery device comprises an elongated shaft having a diameter, a latitudinal axis, a circumference and proximal, medial and distal portions. The distal portion of the device has a sharpened point and the medial portion of the device has a series of annular grooves that run around the circumference of the shaft. These grooves can be helically orientated in one embodiment. Optionally, the elongated shaft can further have an axial channel that runs along a portion of the shaft and onto the sharpened point.
The cellular material delivery device can be used, in one embodiment, to deposit cellular material under the surface of the skin of a subject. The method comprises depositing the cellular material on the surface of the skin of a subject at an injection site. The skin of the subject is then pierced at the injection cite using the sharpened point of the cellular delivery device. The cellular delivery device is inserted so that the annular grooves of the device pick up the material from the surface and convey this material beneath the surface of the skin. The cellular delivery device is then withdrawn from the subject having deposited the material below the surface of the skin. |
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