Flow cytometry

Flow cytometry

Flow cytometry is a laser based technology which analyzes the characteristics of cells or particles. Hydrodynamic or acoustic focusing guides cells/particles in a single-file stream through the flow cell where laser light intercepts the stream at the sample interrogation point. It allows simultaneous multi-parameter analysis of single cells. Cell components that are fluorescently labeled are excited by the laser to emit light at varying wavelengths. The emitted fluorescence can be measured to determine various properties of cells. The properties measured include the particle’s relative granularity, size and fluorescence intensity as well as its internal complexity. An optical-to-electronic coupling system is used to record the way in which the particle emits fluorescence and scatters incident light from the laser.

Applications:

Flow cytometry has varied applications in medicine, infection and vaccine related studies.

1. Immunophenotyping: This technique identifies and quantifies populations of cells in a heterogeneous sample, i.e. blood, bone marrow or lymph.

2. Cell sorting: A specialized flow cytometer can physically isolate cells of interest into separate collection tubes.

3. Cell cycle analysis: Can analyze replication states using fluorescent dyes to measure the four distinct phases of the cell cycle. Along with determining cell cycle replication states, cell aneuploidy associated with chromosomal abnormalities can also be measured

4. Apoptosis: The two distinct types of cell death, apoptosis and necrosis, can be distinguished by flow cytometry on the basis of differences in morphological, biochemical and molecular changes occurring in the dying cells.

4. Cell proliferation:Can measure cell proliferation which is widely used in cell biology to measure cellular metabolic activity in response to stimuli, i.e.growth factors, antigen/pathogen

4. Intracellular calcium flux: The flow cytometer can monitor the flux of calcium into the cell and measure the extent to which cells respond to the stimuli.

Available Equipment