Method for determination of cell viability by using flow cytometry with fixed volume acquisition
AssigneeTumortec GmbH
InventorTimo Schinköthe
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method for comparing the content of a specific cell subpopulation in cell suspension samples by determining the count of cells of said subpopulation per unit volume in each sample, using a flow cytometer with fixed volume acquisition, but without the use of an internal or external standard. Thus, the effect of a test compound on cell viability can be determined, especially the cytotoxic or cytostatic effect of anticancer drugs. The method is a useful tool for predicting the biological activity of cytotoxic or cytostatic compounds on cells of the same kind as the cells in the sample. Furthermore, a kit for performing the method is provided.
Claims17
A method for comparing the content of a specific cell subpopulation in at least two samples of same or different liquid cell suspensions by determining the count of cells of said specific subpopulation per unit volume in each of said at least two samples, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) supplying a predetermined fixed volume of each sample without prior addition of an internal standard to a flow cytometer with fixed volume acquisition and delivery means;
- (b) detecting and counting the relative total number of the cells of the specific cell subpopulation in the complete fixed volume from step (a) by flow cytometry;
- (c) calculating the relative number of counted cells per fixed volume (relative absolute cell count) for the specific cell subpopulation within the sample from the count result of step (b) and the predetermined aspirated volume;
- and
- (d) comparing the relative absolute cell count of the samples calculated according to step (c) with each other, thus determining whether the samples contain the same or different amounts of the specific cell subpopulation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.