Tokai Hit STX Stage Top Incubator: a live-cell culture system for microscopes that controls temperature, humidity, and CO₂ on the microscope stage, enabling live-cell imaging from short-term experiments to long-term observation of two weeks or more.

Figure. Tokai Hit STX Stage Top Incubator: temperature, humidity and CO₂ control, with culture results.

Temperature: precise and uniform control

• Top-plate heating. Tokai Hit top-plate heaters warm every type of observation vessel uniformly, from culture dishes to multi-well plates, with minimal temperature difference between wells and within a single well.
• Real-time sample temperature monitoring. A sterilizable temperature sensor measures the temperature of the medium in the culture dish in real time, and the controller regulates the heaters from the sensor signal so that the sample is held accurately at the target temperature.
• No interference with the objective. Because heating is radiant from the top plate, no heater is required at the bottom of the incubator, and the wide bottom opening leaves the objective unobstructed.

Humidity: high humidity suited to live cells

A proprietary internal direct humidification method heats water in a water bath and uses the resulting vapor to keep the incubator at a high humidity suitable for live cells, minimizing concentration changes caused by evaporation of the medium.

CO₂: stable supply of 5% CO₂ and 95% air

The controller automatically mixes CO₂ from a 100% CO₂ cylinder with ambient air and supplies the incubator at a flow rate of 160 mL/min, keeping the gas concentration in the incubator stable. With the built-in digital CO₂ gas mixer, the CO₂ concentration can be adjusted between 5.0% and 20.0%.

Culture results with the STX system

Incubator components and features

Figure. STX incubator components, features and product line-up.

• Top-plate heater: the main heater, which warms the sample by radiant heat; the transparent heater prevents condensation and keeps a clear field of view in a high-humidity environment.
• Culture vessel holder: secures the culture vessel magnetically and can also hold the temperature sensor.
• Culture vessel adapters: exchangeable adapters accept 35 mm and 60 mm dishes, slides, chambered slides, chambered coverslips, and multi-well plates.
• Humidifying water bath: internal direct humidification; adding distilled water to the bath and heating it maintains high humidity in the incubator.
• Sensor and tubing ports: ports for the temperature sensor, perfusion, medium exchange, and additional uses.
• Objective heater: warms the objective surface to prevent heat loss from the sample through the objective, which is particularly effective for high-magnification oil or water immersion observation.
• One-step fixing of vessels with magnets, and an objective heater cable design that prevents tangling.
• Prevention of focus drift: continuous-output control, built on PID control, suppresses focus drift more effectively than conventional on/off duty-ratio control.
• STX-APP software: guides the user from setup to the start of an experiment with clear on-screen illustrations.
• Program control: in addition to the standard temperature program, CO₂/O₂ control programs adjust temperature and gas concentration over time.
• Screen capture and data logging: the screen can be captured and sent to a smartphone or tablet, and the temperatures of all heaters, the sample temperature, and the gas concentration are recorded synchronously and saved in CSV format.

Product line-up

Controllable sample temperature: 30 to 40 °C. Each series is available as an STXG set with a built-in digital CO₂ gas mixer (for 100% CO₂ cylinders) or as an STXF set with a manual flow meter for premixed gas (for 5% CO₂ / 95% air cylinders).

Accessories, expansion products, heating and cooling, and upright microscopes

Figure. Accessories and expansion products, KRiX heating and cooling live-cell culture system, and UKX system for upright microscopes.

• Accessories: the standard set includes all culture vessel adapters and dedicated culture vessel holders, so that components do not need to be selected individually.
• Expansion products: stage adapters for a range of microscope stages and UNIV2 vessel holders for multiple 35 mm dishes.
• KRiX series heating and cooling live-cell culture system: controllable sample temperature of 15 to 40 °C (dry objective) or 20 to 40 °C (oil or water immersion), with uniform temperature distribution during both heating and cooling.
• UKX series live-cell culture system for upright microscopes: controllable sample temperature of 37.0 °C, with a top-plate heater that opens to the left and right.

For research use only.