In vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry for early malaria diagnosis.

PubMed

Cai, Chengzhong; Carey, Kai A; Nedosekin, Dmitry A; Menyaev, Yulian A; Sarimollaoglu, Mustafa; Galanzha, Ekaterina I; Stumhofer, Jason S; Zharov, Vladimir P

2016-06-01

In vivo photoacoustic (PA) flow cytometry (PAFC) has already demonstrated a great potential for the diagnosis of deadly diseases through ultrasensitive detection of rare disease-associated circulating markers in whole blood volume. Here, we demonstrate the first application of this powerful technique for early diagnosis of malaria through label-free detection of malaria parasite-produced hemozoin in infected red blood cells (iRBCs) as high-contrast PA agent. The existing malaria tests using blood smears can detect the disease at 0.001-0.1% of parasitemia. On the contrary, linear PAFC showed a potential for noninvasive malaria diagnosis at an extremely low level of parasitemia of 0.0000001%, which is ∼10(3) times better than the existing tests. Multicolor time-of-flight PAFC with high-pulse repetition rate lasers at wavelengths of 532, 671, and 820 nm demonstrated rapid spectral and spatial identification and quantitative enumeration of individual iRBCs. Integration of PAFC with fluorescence flow cytometry (FFC) provided real-time simultaneous detection of single iRBCs and parasites expressing green fluorescence proteins, respectively. A combination of linear and nonlinear nanobubble-based multicolor PAFC showed capability to real-time control therapy efficiency by counting of iRBCs before, during, and after treatment. Our results suggest that high-sensitivity, high-resolution ultrafast PAFC-FFC platform represents a powerful research tool to provide the insight on malaria progression through dynamic study of parasite-cell interactions directly in bloodstream, whereas portable hand-worn PAFC device could be broadly used in humans for early malaria diagnosis. © 2016 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. © 2016 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Web-based analysis and publication of flow cytometry experiments.

PubMed

Kotecha, Nikesh; Krutzik, Peter O; Irish, Jonathan M

2010-07-01

Cytobank is a Web-based application for storage, analysis, and sharing of flow cytometry experiments. Researchers use a Web browser to log in and use a wide range of tools developed for basic and advanced flow cytometry. In addition to providing access to standard cytometry tools from any computer, Cytobank creates a platform and community for developing new analysis and publication tools. Figure layouts created on Cytobank are designed to allow transparent access to the underlying experiment annotation and data processing steps. Since all flow cytometry files and analysis data are stored on a central server, experiments and figures can be viewed or edited by anyone with the proper permission, from any computer with Internet access. Once a primary researcher has performed the initial analysis of the data, collaborators can engage in experiment analysis and make their own figure layouts using the gated, compensated experiment files. Cytobank is available to the scientific community at http://www.cytobank.org. (c) 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Web-Based Analysis and Publication of Flow Cytometry Experiments

PubMed Central

Kotecha, Nikesh; Krutzik, Peter O.; Irish, Jonathan M.

2014-01-01

Cytobank is a web-based application for storage, analysis, and sharing of flow cytometry experiments. Researchers use a web browser to log in and use a wide range of tools developed for basic and advanced flow cytometry. In addition to providing access to standard cytometry tools from any computer, Cytobank creates a platform and community for developing new analysis and publication tools. Figure layouts created on Cytobank are designed to allow transparent access to the underlying experiment annotation and data processing steps. Since all flow cytometry files and analysis data are stored on a central server, experiments and figures can be viewed or edited by anyone with the proper permissions from any computer with Internet access. Once a primary researcher has performed the initial analysis of the data, collaborators can engage in experiment analysis and make their own figure layouts using the gated, compensated experiment files. Cytobank is available to the scientific community at www.cytobank.org PMID:20578106

In vitro flow cytometry-based screening platform for cellulase engineering

PubMed Central

Körfer, Georgette; Pitzler, Christian; Vojcic, Ljubica; Martinez, Ronny; Schwaneberg, Ulrich

2016-01-01

Ultrahigh throughput screening (uHTS) plays an essential role in directed evolution for tailoring biocatalysts for industrial applications. Flow cytometry-based uHTS provides an efficient coverage of the generated protein sequence space by analysis of up to 107 events per hour. Cell-free enzyme production overcomes the challenge of diversity loss during the transformation of mutant libraries into expression hosts, enables directed evolution of toxic enzymes, and holds the promise to efficiently design enzymes of human or animal origin. The developed uHTS cell-free compartmentalization platform (InVitroFlow) is the first report in which a flow cytometry-based screened system has been combined with compartmentalized cell-free expression for directed cellulase enzyme evolution. InVitroFlow was validated by screening of a random cellulase mutant library employing a novel screening system (based on the substrate fluorescein-di-β-D-cellobioside), and yielded significantly improved cellulase variants (e.g. CelA2-H288F-M1 (N273D/H288F/N468S) with 13.3-fold increased specific activity (220.60 U/mg) compared to CelA2 wildtype: 16.57 U/mg). PMID:27184298

Flow cytometry in the post fluorescence era.

PubMed

Nolan, Garry P

2011-12-01

While flow cytometry once enabled researchers to examine 10--15 cell surface parameters, new mass flow cytometry technology enables interrogation of up to 45 parameters on a single cell. This new technology has increased understanding of cell expression and how cells differentiate during hematopoiesis. Using this information, knowledge of leukemia cell biology has also increased. Other new technologies, such as SPADE analysis and single cell network profiling (SCNP), are enabling researchers to put different cancers into more biologically similar categories and have the potential to enable more personalized medicine. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Mass cytometry: a highly multiplexed single-cell technology for advancing drug development.

PubMed

Atkuri, Kondala R; Stevens, Jeffrey C; Neubert, Hendrik

2015-02-01

Advanced single-cell analysis technologies (e.g., mass cytometry) that help in multiplexing cellular measurements in limited-volume primary samples are critical in bridging discovery efforts to successful drug approval. Mass cytometry is the state-of-the-art technology in multiparametric single-cell analysis. Mass cytometers (also known as cytometry by time-of-flight or CyTOF) combine the cellular analysis principles of traditional fluorescence-based flow cytometry with the selectivity and quantitative power of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Standard flow cytometry is limited in the number of parameters that can be measured owing to the overlap in signal when detecting fluorescently labeled antibodies. Mass cytometry uses antibodies tagged to stable isotopes of rare earth metals, which requires minimal signal compensation between the different metal tags. This unique feature enables researchers to seamlessly multiplex up to 40 independent measurements on single cells. In this overview we first present an overview of mass cytometry and compare it with traditional flow cytometry. We then discuss the emerging and potential applications of CyTOF technology in the pharmaceutical industry, including quantitative and qualitative deep profiling of immune cells and their applications in assessing drug immunogenicity, extensive mapping of signaling networks in single cells, cell surface receptor quantification and multiplexed internalization kinetics, multiplexing sample analysis by barcoding, and establishing cell ontologies on the basis of phenotype and/or function. We end with a discussion of the anticipated impact of this technology on drug development lifecycle with special emphasis on the utility of mass cytometry in deciphering a drug's pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics relationship. Copyright © 2014 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

Multiplex polymerase chain reaction on FTA cards vs. flow cytometry for B-lymphocyte clonality.

PubMed

Dictor, Michael; Skogvall, Ingela; Warenholt, Janina; Rambech, Eva

2007-01-01

Two-colour flow cytometry was compared with multiplex PCR with capillary electrophoresis for clonality determination in specific categories of B-cell lymphoma. FTA cards were evaluated for preserving DNA from node imprints and expediting molecular analysis. A single-tube multiplex PCR targeted IGH and lymphoma-specific translocations in DNA extracted from 180 frozen lymphoid tissues and DNA bound to FTA cards from 192 fresh tissues and 137 aspirates. PCR results were compared with flow cytometry in the extracted and aspirated samples. Overall, single-tube multiplex PCR sensitivity was equivalent in the sample groups (intergroup range 79%-91%). False negatives were associated with tumour origin in the follicle centre. Multiplex PCR and flow cytometry were equally sensitive and together detected 98% of B-cell lymphomas. Additional two-tube targeting of IGK suggested an overall molecular sensitivity >90%. False positive (pseudoclonal) single-tube multiplex PCR was associated with necrosis and sparse lymphocytes. Multiplex PCR using template DNA bound to an FTA card effectively detects B-lymphocyte clonality, obviates DNA extraction and refrigeration, and can be used without diminished sensitivity in fine needle aspirates or node imprints as a replacement for or complement to flow cytometry at any point in the diagnostic work-up.

Enumeration of antigen-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes by single-platform, HLA tetramer-based flow cytometry: a European multicenter evaluation.

PubMed

Heijnen, Ingmar A F M; Barnett, David; Arroz, Maria J; Barry, Simon M; Bonneville, Marc; Brando, Bruno; D'hautcourt, Jean-Luc; Kern, Florian; Tötterman, Thomas H; Marijt, Erik W A; Bossy, David; Preijers, Frank W M B; Rothe, Gregor; Gratama, Jan W

2004-11-01

HLA class I peptide tetramers represent powerful diagnostic tools for detection and monitoring of antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells. The impetus for the current multicenter study is the critical need to standardize tetramer flow cytometry if it is to be implemented as a routine diagnostic assay. Hence, the European Working Group on Clinical Cell Analysis set out to develop and evaluate a single-platform tetramer-based method that used cytomegalovirus (CMV) as the antigenic model. Absolute numbers of CMV-specific CD8(+) T cells were obtained by combining the percentage of tetramer-binding cells with the absolute CD8(+) T-cell count. Six send-outs of stabilized blood from healthy individuals or CMV-carrying donors with CMV-specific CD8(+) T-cell counts of 3 to 10 cells/microl were distributed to 7 to 16 clinical sites. These sites were requested to enumerate CD8(+) T cells and, in the case of CMV-positive donors, CMV-specific subsets on three separate occasions using the standard method. Between-site coefficients of variation of less than 10% (absolute CD8(+) T-cell counts) and approximately 30% (percentage and absolute numbers of CMV-specific CD8(+) T cells) were achieved. Within-site coefficients of variation were approximately 5% (absolute CD8(+) T-cell counts), approximately 9% (percentage CMV-specific CD8(+) T cells), and approximately 17% (absolute CMV-specific CD8(+) T-cell counts). The degree of variation tended to correlate inversely with the proportion of CMV-specific CD8(+) T-cell subsets. The single-platform MHC tetramer-based method for antigen-specific CD8(+) T-cell counting has been evaluated by a European group of laboratories and can be considered a reproducible assay for routine enumeration of antigen-specific CD8(+) T cells. (c) 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Flow cytometry: basic principles and applications.

PubMed

Adan, Aysun; Alizada, Günel; Kiraz, Yağmur; Baran, Yusuf; Nalbant, Ayten

2017-03-01

Flow cytometry is a sophisticated instrument measuring multiple physical characteristics of a single cell such as size and granularity simultaneously as the cell flows in suspension through a measuring device. Its working depends on the light scattering features of the cells under investigation, which may be derived from dyes or monoclonal antibodies targeting either extracellular molecules located on the surface or intracellular molecules inside the cell. This approach makes flow cytometry a powerful tool for detailed analysis of complex populations in a short period of time. This review covers the general principles and selected applications of flow cytometry such as immunophenotyping of peripheral blood cells, analysis of apoptosis and detection of cytokines. Additionally, this report provides a basic understanding of flow cytometry technology essential for all users as well as the methods used to analyze and interpret the data. Moreover, recent progresses in flow cytometry have been discussed in order to give an opinion about the future importance of this technology.

AirLab: a cloud-based platform to manage and share antibody-based single-cell research.

PubMed

Catena, Raúl; Özcan, Alaz; Jacobs, Andrea; Chevrier, Stephane; Bodenmiller, Bernd

2016-06-29

Single-cell analysis technologies are essential tools in research and clinical diagnostics. These methods include flow cytometry, mass cytometry, and other microfluidics-based technologies. Most laboratories that employ these methods maintain large repositories of antibodies. These ever-growing collections of antibodies, their multiple conjugates, and the large amounts of data generated in assays using specific antibodies and conditions makes a dedicated software solution necessary. We have developed AirLab, a cloud-based tool with web and mobile interfaces, for the organization of these data. AirLab streamlines the processes of antibody purchase, organization, and storage, antibody panel creation, results logging, and antibody validation data sharing and distribution. Furthermore, AirLab enables inventory of other laboratory stocks, such as primers or clinical samples, through user-controlled customization. Thus, AirLab is a mobile-powered and flexible tool that harnesses the capabilities of mobile tools and cloud-based technology to facilitate inventory and sharing of antibody and sample collections and associated validation data.

SCENERY: a web application for (causal) network reconstruction from cytometry data

PubMed Central

Papoutsoglou, Georgios; Athineou, Giorgos; Lagani, Vincenzo; Xanthopoulos, Iordanis; Schmidt, Angelika; Éliás, Szabolcs; Tegnér, Jesper

2017-01-01

Abstract Flow and mass cytometry technologies can probe proteins as biological markers in thousands of individual cells simultaneously, providing unprecedented opportunities for reconstructing networks of protein interactions through machine learning algorithms. The network reconstruction (NR) problem has been well-studied by the machine learning community. However, the potentials of available methods remain largely unknown to the cytometry community, mainly due to their intrinsic complexity and the lack of comprehensive, powerful and easy-to-use NR software implementations specific for cytometry data. To bridge this gap, we present Single CEll NEtwork Reconstruction sYstem (SCENERY), a web server featuring several standard and advanced cytometry data analysis methods coupled with NR algorithms in a user-friendly, on-line environment. In SCENERY, users may upload their data and set their own study design. The server offers several data analysis options categorized into three classes of methods: data (pre)processing, statistical analysis and NR. The server also provides interactive visualization and download of results as ready-to-publish images or multimedia reports. Its core is modular and based on the widely-used and robust R platform allowing power users to extend its functionalities by submitting their own NR methods. SCENERY is available at scenery.csd.uoc.gr or http://mensxmachina.org/en/software/. PMID:28525568

Review of methods to probe single cell metabolism and bioenergetics

DOE PAGES

Vasdekis, Andreas E.; Stephanopoulos, Gregory

2014-10-31

The sampling and manipulation of cells down to the individual has been of substantial interest since the very beginning of Life Sciences. Herein, our objective is to highlight the most recent developments in single cell manipulation, as well as pioneering ones. First, flow-through methods will be discussed, namely methods in which the single cells flow continuously in an ordered manner during their analysis. This section will be followed by confinement techniques that enable cell isolation and confinement in one, two- or three-dimensions. Flow cytometry and droplet microfluidics are the two most common methods of flow-through analysis. While both are high-throughputmore » techniques, their difference lays in the fact that the droplet encapsulated cells experience a restricted and personal microenvironment, while in flow cytometry cells experience similar nutrient and stimuli initial concentrations. These methods are rather well established; however, they recently enabled immense strides in single cell phenotypic analysis, namely the identification and analysis of metabolically distinct individuals from an isogenic population using both droplet microfluidics and flow cytometry.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vasdekis, Andreas E.; Stephanopoulos, Gregory

The sampling and manipulation of cells down to the individual has been of substantial interest since the very beginning of Life Sciences. Herein, our objective is to highlight the most recent developments in single cell manipulation, as well as pioneering ones. First, flow-through methods will be discussed, namely methods in which the single cells flow continuously in an ordered manner during their analysis. This section will be followed by confinement techniques that enable cell isolation and confinement in one, two- or three-dimensions. Flow cytometry and droplet microfluidics are the two most common methods of flow-through analysis. While both are high-throughputmore » techniques, their difference lays in the fact that the droplet encapsulated cells experience a restricted and personal microenvironment, while in flow cytometry cells experience similar nutrient and stimuli initial concentrations. These methods are rather well established; however, they recently enabled immense strides in single cell phenotypic analysis, namely the identification and analysis of metabolically distinct individuals from an isogenic population using both droplet microfluidics and flow cytometry.« less

Magnetic fingerprints of rolling cells for quantitative flow cytometry in whole blood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reisbeck, Mathias; Helou, Michael Johannes; Richter, Lukas; Kappes, Barbara; Friedrich, Oliver; Hayden, Oliver

2016-09-01

Over the past 50 years, flow cytometry has had a profound impact on preclinical and clinical applications requiring single cell function information for counting, sub-typing and quantification of epitope expression. At the same time, the workflow complexity and high costs of such optical systems still limit flow cytometry applications to specialized laboratories. Here, we present a quantitative magnetic flow cytometer that incorporates in situ magnetophoretic cell focusing for highly accurate and reproducible rolling of the cellular targets over giant magnetoresistance sensing elements. Time-of-flight analysis is used to unveil quantitative single cell information contained in its magnetic fingerprint. Furthermore, we used erythrocytes as a biological model to validate our methodology with respect to precise analysis of the hydrodynamic cell diameter, quantification of binding capacity of immunomagnetic labels, and discrimination of cell morphology. The extracted time-of-flight information should enable point-of-care quantitative flow cytometry in whole blood for clinical applications, such as immunology and primary hemostasis.

A benchmark for evaluation of algorithms for identification of cellular correlates of clinical outcomes.

PubMed

Aghaeepour, Nima; Chattopadhyay, Pratip; Chikina, Maria; Dhaene, Tom; Van Gassen, Sofie; Kursa, Miron; Lambrecht, Bart N; Malek, Mehrnoush; McLachlan, G J; Qian, Yu; Qiu, Peng; Saeys, Yvan; Stanton, Rick; Tong, Dong; Vens, Celine; Walkowiak, Sławomir; Wang, Kui; Finak, Greg; Gottardo, Raphael; Mosmann, Tim; Nolan, Garry P; Scheuermann, Richard H; Brinkman, Ryan R

2016-01-01

The Flow Cytometry: Critical Assessment of Population Identification Methods (FlowCAP) challenges were established to compare the performance of computational methods for identifying cell populations in multidimensional flow cytometry data. Here we report the results of FlowCAP-IV where algorithms from seven different research groups predicted the time to progression to AIDS among a cohort of 384 HIV+ subjects, using antigen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples analyzed with a 14-color staining panel. Two approaches (FlowReMi.1 and flowDensity-flowType-RchyOptimyx) provided statistically significant predictive value in the blinded test set. Manual validation of submitted results indicated that unbiased analysis of single cell phenotypes could reveal unexpected cell types that correlated with outcomes of interest in high dimensional flow cytometry datasets. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Flow Cytometry: Impact on Early Drug Discovery.

PubMed

Edwards, Bruce S; Sklar, Larry A

2015-07-01

Modern flow cytometers can make optical measurements of 10 or more parameters per cell at tens of thousands of cells per second and more than five orders of magnitude dynamic range. Although flow cytometry is used in most drug discovery stages, "sip-and-spit" sampling technology has restricted it to low-sample-throughput applications. The advent of HyperCyt sampling technology has recently made possible primary screening applications in which tens of thousands of compounds are analyzed per day. Target-multiplexing methodologies in combination with extended multiparameter analyses enable profiling of lead candidates early in the discovery process, when the greatest numbers of candidates are available for evaluation. The ability to sample small volumes with negligible waste reduces reagent costs, compound usage, and consumption of cells. Improved compound library formatting strategies can further extend primary screening opportunities when samples are scarce. Dozens of targets have been screened in 384- and 1536-well assay formats, predominantly in academic screening lab settings. In concert with commercial platform evolution and trending drug discovery strategies, HyperCyt-based systems are now finding their way into mainstream screening labs. Recent advances in flow-based imaging, mass spectrometry, and parallel sample processing promise dramatically expanded single-cell profiling capabilities to bolster systems-level approaches to drug discovery. © 2015 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

Flow Cytometry: Impact On Early Drug Discovery

PubMed Central

Edwards, Bruce S.; Sklar, Larry A.

2015-01-01

Summary Modern flow cytometers can make optical measurements of 10 or more parameters per cell at tens-of-thousands of cells per second and over five orders of magnitude dynamic range. Although flow cytometry is used in most drug discovery stages, “sip-and-spit” sampling technology has restricted it to low sample throughput applications. The advent of HyperCyt sampling technology has recently made possible primary screening applications in which tens-of-thousands of compounds are analyzed per day. Target-multiplexing methodologies in combination with extended multi-parameter analyses enable profiling of lead candidates early in the discovery process, when the greatest numbers of candidates are available for evaluation. The ability to sample small volumes with negligible waste reduces reagent costs, compound usage and consumption of cells. Improved compound library formatting strategies can further extend primary screening opportunities when samples are scarce. Dozens of targets have been screened in 384- and 1536-well assay formats, predominantly in academic screening lab settings. In concert with commercial platform evolution and trending drug discovery strategies, HyperCyt-based systems are now finding their way into mainstream screening labs. Recent advances in flow-based imaging, mass spectrometry and parallel sample processing promise dramatically expanded single cell profiling capabilities to bolster systems level approaches to drug discovery. PMID:25805180

ggCyto: Next Generation Open-Source Visualization Software for Cytometry.

PubMed

Van, Phu; Jiang, Wenxin; Gottardo, Raphael; Finak, Greg

2018-06-01

Open source software for computational cytometry has gained in popularity over the past few years. Efforts such as FlowCAP, the Lyoplate and Euroflow projects have highlighted the importance of efforts to standardize both experimental and computational aspects of cytometry data analysis. The R/BioConductor platform hosts the largest collection of open source cytometry software covering all aspects of data analysis and providing infrastructure to represent and analyze cytometry data with all relevant experimental, gating, and cell population annotations enabling fully reproducible data analysis. Data visualization frameworks to support this infrastructure have lagged behind. ggCyto is a new open-source BioConductor software package for cytometry data visualization built on ggplot2 that enables ggplot-like functionality with the core BioConductor flow cytometry data structures. Amongst its features are the ability to transform data and axes on-the-fly using cytometry-specific transformations, plot faceting by experimental meta-data variables, and partial matching of channel, marker and cell populations names to the contents of the BioConductor cytometry data structures. We demonstrate the salient features of the package using publicly available cytometry data with complete reproducible examples in a supplementary material vignette. https://bioconductor.org/packages/devel/bioc/html/ggcyto.html. gfinak@fredhutch.org. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online and at http://rglab.org/ggcyto/.

Ultrasensitive automated RNA in situ hybridization for kappa and lambda light chain mRNA detects B-cell clonality in tissue biopsies with performance comparable or superior to flow cytometry.

PubMed

Guo, Ling; Wang, Zhen; Anderson, Courtney M; Doolittle, Emerald; Kernag, Siobhan; Cotta, Claudiu V; Ondrejka, Sarah L; Ma, Xiao-Jun; Cook, James R

2018-03-01

The assessment of B-cell clonality is a critical component of the evaluation of suspected lymphoproliferative disorders, but analysis from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues can be challenging if fresh tissue is not available for flow cytometry. Immunohistochemical and conventional bright field in situ hybridization stains for kappa and lambda are effective for evaluation of plasma cells but are often insufficiently sensitive to detect the much lower abundance of light chains present in B-cells. We describe an ultrasensitive RNA in situ hybridization assay that has been adapted for use on an automated immunohistochemistry platform and compare results with flow cytometry in 203 consecutive tissues and 104 consecutive bone marrows. Overall, in 203 tissue biopsies, RNA in situ hybridization identified light chain-restricted B-cells in 85 (42%) vs 58 (29%) by flow cytometry. Within 83 B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, RNA in situ hybridization identified restricted B-cells in 74 (89%) vs 56 (67%) by flow cytometry. B-cell clonality could be evaluated in only 23/104 (22%) bone marrow cases owing to poor RNA preservation, but evaluable cases showed 91% concordance with flow cytometry. RNA in situ hybridization allowed for recognition of biclonal/composite lymphomas not identified by flow cytometry and highlighted unexpected findings, such as coexpression of kappa and lambda RNA in 2 cases and the presence of lambda light chain RNA in a T lymphoblastic lymphoma. Automated RNA in situ hybridization showed excellent interobserver reproducibility for manual evaluation (average K=0.92), and an automated image analysis system showed high concordance (97%) with manual evaluation. Automated RNA in situ hybridization staining, which can be adopted on commonly utilized immunohistochemistry instruments, allows for the interpretation of clonality in the context of the morphological features in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues with a clinical sensitivity similar or superior to flow cytometry.

Ultrasensitive Automated RNA in situ Hybridization for Kappa and Lambda Light Chain mRNA Detects B-cell Clonality in Tissue Biopsies with Performance Comparable or Superior to Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Guo, Ling; Wang, Zhen; Anderson, Courtney M.; Doolittle, Emerald; Kernag, Siobhan; Cotta, Claudiu V.; Ondrejka, Sarah L.; Ma, Xiao-Jun; Cook, James R.

2017-01-01

The assessment of B-cell clonality is a critical component of the evaluation of suspected lymphoproliferative disorders, but analysis from formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissues can be challenging if fresh tissue is not available for flow cytometry. Immunohistochemical and conventional bright field in situ hybridization stains for kappa and lambda are effective for evaluation of plasma cells, but are often insufficiently sensitive to detect the much lower abundance of light chains present in B cells. We describe an ultrasensitive RNA in situ hybridization assay which has been adapted for use on an automated immunohistochemistry platform and compare results with flow cytometry in 203 consecutive tissues and 104 consecutive bone marrows. Overall, in 203 tissue biopsies, RNA in situ hybridization identified light chain restricted B-cells in 85 (42%) vs. 58 (29%) by flow cytometry. Within 83 B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas, RNA in situ hybridization identified a restricted B-cells in 74 (89%) vs. 56 (67%) by flow cytometry. B-cell clonality could be evaluated in only 23/104 (22%) bone marrow cases due to poor RNA preservation, but evaluable cases showed 91% concordance with flow cytometry. RNA in situ hybridization allowed for recognition of biclonal/composite lymphomas not identified by flow cytometry, and highlighted unexpected findings, such as coexpression of kappa and lambda RNA in 2 cases and the presence of lambda light chain RNA in a T lymphoblastic lymphoma. Automated RNA in situ hybridization showed excellent interobserver reproducibility for manual evaluation (average K=0.92), and an automated image analysis system showed high concordance (97%) with manual evaluation. Automated RNA in situ hybridization staining, which can be adopted on commonly utilized immunohistochemistry instruments, allows for the interpretation of clonality in the context of the morphologic features in formalin fixed, paraffin embedded tissues with a clinical sensitivity similar or superior to flow cytometry. PMID:29052600

Flow Cytometry with Gold Nanoparticles and their Clusters as scattering Contrast Agents: FDTD Simulation of Light-Cell Interaction

PubMed Central

Tanev, Stoyan; Sun, Wenbo; Pond, James; Tuchin, Valery V.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2010-01-01

The formulation of the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) approach is presented in the framework of its potential applications to in vivo flow cytometry based on light scattering. The consideration is focused on comparison of light scattering by a single biological cell alone in controlled refractive index matching conditions and by cells labeled by gold nanoparticles. The optical schematics including phase contrast (OPCM) microscopy as a prospective modality for in vivo flow cytometry is also analyzed. The validation of the FDTD approach for the simulation of flow cytometry may open a new avenue in the development of advanced cytometric techniques based on scattering effects from nanoscale targets. PMID:19670359

Organizing the Cellular and Molecular Heterogeneity in High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer by Mass Cytometry

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

Bendall SC, Sung P, Nolan GP, Arvin AM. Single-cell mass cytometry analysis of human tonsil T cell remodeling by varicella zoster virus. Cell Rep...Perspectives on Flow Cytometry 2013, September 20, 2013, Mass Cytometry and Cell Cycle, Mexico City, Mexico (by Web Conference) Nolan: Nuclear

Lab-on-Chip Cytometry Based on Magnetoresistive Sensors for Bacteria Detection in Milk

PubMed Central

Fernandes, Ana C.; Duarte, Carla M.; Cardoso, Filipe A.; Bexiga, Ricardo.; Cardoso, Susana.; Freitas, Paulo P.

2014-01-01

Flow cytometers have been optimized for use in portable platforms, where cell separation, identification and counting can be achieved in a compact and modular format. This feature can be combined with magnetic detection, where magnetoresistive sensors can be integrated within microfluidic channels to detect magnetically labelled cells. This work describes a platform for in-flow detection of magnetically labelled cells with a magneto-resistive based cell cytometer. In particular, we present an example for the validation of the platform as a magnetic counter that identifies and quantifies Streptococcus agalactiae in milk. PMID:25196163

Lab-on-chip cytometry based on magnetoresistive sensors for bacteria detection in milk.

PubMed

Fernandes, Ana C; Duarte, Carla M; Cardoso, Filipe A; Bexiga, Ricardo; Cardoso, Susana; Freitas, Paulo P

2014-08-21

Flow cytometers have been optimized for use in portable platforms, where cell separation, identification and counting can be achieved in a compact and modular format. This feature can be combined with magnetic detection, where magnetoresistive sensors can be integrated within microfluidic channels to detect magnetically labelled cells. This work describes a platform for in-flow detection of magnetically labelled cells with a magneto-resistive based cell cytometer. In particular, we present an example for the validation of the platform as a magnetic counter that identifies and quantifies Streptococcus agalactiae in milk.

Role of receptor occupancy assays by flow cytometry in drug development.

PubMed

Stewart, Jennifer J; Green, Cherie L; Jones, Nicholas; Liang, Meina; Xu, Yuanxin; Wilkins, Danice E C; Moulard, Maxime; Czechowska, Kamila; Lanham, David; McCloskey, Thomas W; Ferbas, John; van der Strate, Barry W A; Högerkorp, Carl-Magnus; Wyant, Timothy; Lackey, Alan; Litwin, Virginia

2016-03-01

The measurement of the binding of a biotherapeutic to its cellular target, receptor occupancy (RO), is increasingly important in development of biologically-based therapeutic agents. Receptor occupancy (RO) assays by flow cytometry describe the qualitative and/or quantitative assessment of the binding of a therapeutic agent to its cell surface target. Such RO assays can be as simple as measuring the number of cell surface receptors bound by an antireceptor therapeutic agent or can be designed to address more complicated scenarios such as internalization or shedding events once a receptor engages the administered therapeutic agent. Data generated from RO assays can also be used to model whether given doses of an experimental therapeutic agent and their administration schedules lead to predicted levels of receptor occupancy and whether the receptor is modulated (up or down) on cells engaged by the therapeutic agent. There are a variety of approaches that can be used when undertaking RO assays and with the ability to measure distinct subsets in heterogeneous populations, flow cytometry is ideally suited to RO measurements. This article highlights the importance of RO assays on the flow cytometric platform in the development of biotherapeutic agents. © 2016 The Authors Cytometry Part B: Clinical Cytometry Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

SCENERY: a web application for (causal) network reconstruction from cytometry data.

PubMed

Papoutsoglou, Georgios; Athineou, Giorgos; Lagani, Vincenzo; Xanthopoulos, Iordanis; Schmidt, Angelika; Éliás, Szabolcs; Tegnér, Jesper; Tsamardinos, Ioannis

2017-07-03

Flow and mass cytometry technologies can probe proteins as biological markers in thousands of individual cells simultaneously, providing unprecedented opportunities for reconstructing networks of protein interactions through machine learning algorithms. The network reconstruction (NR) problem has been well-studied by the machine learning community. However, the potentials of available methods remain largely unknown to the cytometry community, mainly due to their intrinsic complexity and the lack of comprehensive, powerful and easy-to-use NR software implementations specific for cytometry data. To bridge this gap, we present Single CEll NEtwork Reconstruction sYstem (SCENERY), a web server featuring several standard and advanced cytometry data analysis methods coupled with NR algorithms in a user-friendly, on-line environment. In SCENERY, users may upload their data and set their own study design. The server offers several data analysis options categorized into three classes of methods: data (pre)processing, statistical analysis and NR. The server also provides interactive visualization and download of results as ready-to-publish images or multimedia reports. Its core is modular and based on the widely-used and robust R platform allowing power users to extend its functionalities by submitting their own NR methods. SCENERY is available at scenery.csd.uoc.gr or http://mensxmachina.org/en/software/. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Multinode acoustic focusing for parallel flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Piyasena, Menake E.; Suthanthiraraj, Pearlson P. Austin; Applegate, Robert W.; Goumas, Andrew M.; Woods, Travis A.; López, Gabriel P.; Graves, Steven W.

2012-01-01

Flow cytometry can simultaneously measure and analyze multiple properties of single cells or particles with high sensitivity and precision. Yet, conventional flow cytometers have fundamental limitations with regards to analyzing particles larger than about 70 microns, analyzing at flow rates greater than a few hundred microliters per minute, and providing analysis rates greater than 50,000 per second. To overcome these limits, we have developed multi-node acoustic focusing flow cells that can position particles (as small as a red blood cell and as large as 107 microns in diameter) into as many as 37 parallel flow streams. We demonstrate the potential of such flow cells for the development of high throughput, parallel flow cytometers by precision focusing of flow cytometry alignment microspheres, red blood cells, and the analysis of CD4+ cellular immunophenotyping assay. This approach will have significant impact towards the creation of high throughput flow cytometers for rare cell detection applications (e.g. circulating tumor cells), applications requiring large particle analysis, and high volume flow cytometry. PMID:22239072

Dynamic thermoregulation of the sample in flow cytometry.

PubMed

Graves, Steven W; Habbersett, Robert C; Nolan, John P

2002-05-01

Fine control of temperature is an important capability for any analytical platform. A circulating water bath has been the traditional means of maintaining constant temperature in the sample chamber of a flow cytometer, but this approach does not permit rapid changes in sample temperature. This unit explains the use of Peltier modules for regulation of sample temperature. The heat pumping generated by the passage of current through properly matched semiconductors, known as the Peltier effect, makes it possible for these thermoelectric modules to both heat and cool. The authors describe the construction of a Peltier module based thermoregulation unit in step-by-step detail and present a demonstration of flow cytometry measurements as a function of temperature.

Single cell analysis using surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) tags

PubMed Central

Nolan, John P.; Duggan, Erika; Liu, Er; Condello, Danilo; Dave, Isha; Stoner, Samuel A.

2013-01-01

Fluorescence is a mainstay of bioanalytical methods, offering sensitive and quantitative reporting, often in multiplexed or multiparameter assays. Perhaps the best example of the latter is flow cytometry, where instruments equipped with multiple lasers and detectors allow measurement of 15 or more different fluorophores simultaneously, but increases beyond this number are limited by the relatively broad emission spectra. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) from metal nanoparticles can produce signal intensities that rival fluorescence, but with narrower spectral features that allow a greater degree of multiplexing. We are developing nanoparticle SERS tags as well as Raman flow cytometers for multiparameter single cell analysis of suspension or adherent cells. SERS tags are based on plasmonically active nanoparticles (gold nanorods) whose plasmon resonance can be tuned to give optimal SERS signals at a desired excitation wavelength. Raman resonant compounds are adsorbed on the nanoparticles to confer a unique spectral fingerprint on each SERS tag, which are then encapsulated in a polymer coating for conjugation to antibodies or other targeting molecules. Raman flow cytometry employs a high resolution spectral flow cytometer capable of measuring the complete SERS spectra, as well as conventional flow cytometry measurements, from thousands of individual cells per minute. Automated spectral unmixing algorithms extract the contributions of each SERS tag from each cell to generate high content, multiparameter single cell population data. SERS-based cytometry is a powerful complement to conventional fluorescence-based cytometry. The narrow spectral features of the SERS signal enables more distinct probes to be measured in a smaller region of the optical spectrum with a single laser and detector, allowing for higher levels of multiplexing and multiparameter analysis. PMID:22498143

Perfect count: a novel approach for the single platform enumeration of absolute CD4+ T-lymphocytes.

PubMed

Storie, Ian; Sawle, Alex; Goodfellow, Karen; Whitby, Liam; Granger, Vivian; Ward, Rosalie Y; Peel, Janet; Smart, Theresa; Reilly, John T; Barnett, David

2004-01-01

The derivation of reliable CD4(+) T lymphocyte counts is vital for the monitoring of disease progression and therapeutic effectiveness in HIV(+) individuals. Flow cytometry has emerged as the method of choice for CD4(+) T lymphocyte enumeration, with single-platform technology, coupled with reference counting beads, fast becoming the "gold standard." However, although single-platform, bead-based, sample acquisition requires the ratio of beads to cells to remain unchanged, there is no available method, until recently, to monitor this. Perfect Count beads have been developed to address this issue and to incorporate two bead populations, with different densities, to allow the detection of inadequate mixing. Comparison of the relative proportions of both beads with the manufacture's defined limits enables an internal QC check during sample acquisition. In this study, we have compared CD4(+) T lymphocyte counts, obtained from 104 HIV(+) patients, using TruCount beads with MultiSet software (defined as the predicated method) and the new Perfect Count beads, incorporating an in house sequential gating strategy. We have demonstrated an excellent degree of correlation between the predicate method and the Perfect Count system (r(2) = 0.9955; Bland Altman bias +27 CD4(+) T lymphocytes/microl). The Perfect Count system is a robust method for performing single platform absolute counts and has the added advantage of having internal QC checks. Such an approach enables the operator to identify potential problems during sample preparation, acquisition and analysis. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Flow cytometry with gold nanoparticles and their clusters as scattering contrast agents: FDTD simulation of light-cell interaction.

PubMed

Tanev, Stoyan; Sun, Wenbo; Pond, James; Tuchin, Valery V; Zharov, Vladimir P

2009-09-01

The formulation of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approach is presented in the framework of its potential applications to in-vivo flow cytometry based on light scattering. The consideration is focused on comparison of light scattering by a single biological cell alone in controlled refractive-index matching conditions and by cells labeled by gold nanoparticles. The optical schematics including phase contrast (OPCM) microscopy as a prospective modality for in-vivo flow cytometry is also analyzed. The validation of the FDTD approach for the simulation of flow cytometry may open up a new avenue in the development of advanced cytometric techniques based on scattering effects from nanoscale targets. 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Sensitive Optical and Microfluidic Systems for Cellular Analyses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schiro, Perry G.

Investigating rare cells and heterogeneous subpopulations is challenging for a myriad reasons. This dissertation describes novel techniques to analyze single molecules, synaptic vesicles, and rare circulating tumor cells. The eDAR platform for isolating rare cells in fluids provides a new method to monitor breast cancer status in patients as well as to guide research for personalized treatment and efficacy. In a side-by-side comparison with CellSearch, eDAR detected CTCs in all 20 Stage IV metastatic breast cancer patients while the CellSearch system found CTCs in just 8 patients. The single-molecule capillary electrophoresis technology is a method to characterize an entire sample one molecule at a time, providing detailed information about the absolute number and nature of molecules present in a sample. The nFASS platform has the potential to apply the advantages that currently exist in flow cytometry to the study of items on a much smaller scale such as subcellular organelles and nanometer-sized objects. For example, the isolation of subpopulations of synaptic vesicles will allow for detailed protein quantification and identification in the study of neurological diseases. These tools facilitate fundamental investigation of objects ranging from single molecules to single cells.

Discovery of Regulators of Receptor Internalization with High-Throughput Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Tapia, Phillip H.; Fisher, Gregory W.; Simons, Peter C.; Strouse, J. Jacob; Foutz, Terry; Waggoner, Alan S.; Jarvik, Jonathan; Sklar, Larry A.

2012-01-01

We developed a platform combining fluorogen-activating protein (FAP) technology with high-throughput flow cytometry to detect real-time protein trafficking to and from the plasma membrane in living cells. The hybrid platform facilitates drug discovery for trafficking receptors such as G protein-coupled receptors and was validated with the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) system. When a chemical library containing ∼1200 off-patent drugs was screened against cells expressing FAP-tagged β2ARs, all 33 known β2AR-active ligands in the library were successfully identified, together with a number of compounds that might regulate receptor internalization in a nontraditional manner. Results indicated that the platform identified ligands of target proteins regardless of the associated signaling pathway; therefore, this approach presents opportunities to search for biased receptor modulators and is suitable for screening of multiplexed targets for improved efficiency. The results revealed that ligands may be biased with respect to the rate or duration of receptor internalization and that receptor internalization may be independent of activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. PMID:22767611

Characterization of the Inflammatory Response in Dystrophic Muscle Using Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Kastenschmidt, Jenna M; Avetyan, Ileen; Villalta, S A

2018-01-01

Although mutations of the dystrophin gene are the causative defect in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients, secondary disease processes such as inflammation contribute greatly to the pathogenesis of DMD. Genetic and histological studies have shown that distinct facets of the immune system promote muscle degeneration or regeneration during muscular dystrophy through mechanisms that are only beginning to be defined. Although histological methods have allowed the enumeration and localization of immune cells within dystrophic muscle, they are limited in their ability to assess the full spectrum of phenotypic states of an immune cell population and its functional characteristics. This chapter highlights flow cytometry methods for the isolation and functional study of immune cell populations from muscle of the mdx mouse model of DMD. We include a detailed description of preparing single-cell suspensions of dystrophic muscle that maintain the integrity of cell-surface markers used to identify macrophages, eosinophils, group 2 innate lymphoid cells, and regulatory T cells. This method complements the battery of histological assays that are currently used to study the role of inflammation in muscular dystrophy, and provides a platform capable of being integrated with multiple downstream methodologies for the mechanistic study of immunity in muscle degenerative diseases.

Establishment and Comparison of Two Different Diagnostic Platforms for Detection of DENV1 NS1 Protein

PubMed Central

Tang, Yin-Liang; Chiu, Chien-Yu; Lin, Chun-Yu; Huang, Chung-Hao; Chen, Yen-Hsu; Destura, Raul V.; Chao, Day-Yu; Wu, Han-Chung

2015-01-01

Dengue virus (DENV) infection is currently at pandemic levels, with populations in tropical and subtropical regions at greatest risk of infection. Early diagnosis and management remain the cornerstone for good clinical outcomes, thus efficient and accurate diagnostic technology in the early stage of the disease is urgently needed. Serotype-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the DENV1 nonstructural protein 1 (NS1), DA12-4, DA13-2, and DA15-3, which were recently generated using the hybridoma technique, are suitable for use in diagnostic platforms. Immunofluorescence assay (IFA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot analysis further confirmed the serotype specificity of these three monoclonal antibodies. The ELISA-based diagnostic platform was established using the combination of two highly sensitive mAbs (DA15-3 and DB20-6). The same combination was also used for the flow cytometry-based diagnostic platform. We report here the detection limits of flow cytometry-based and ELISA-based diagnostic platforms using these mAbs to be 0.1 and 1 ng/mL, respectively. The collected clinical patient serum samples were also assayed by these two serotyping diagnostic platforms. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting NS1 protein of DENV1 are 90% and 96%, respectively. The accuracy of our platform for testing clinical samples is more advanced than that of the two commercial NS1 diagnostic platforms. In conclusion, our platforms are suitable for the early detection of NS1 protein in DENV1 infected patients. PMID:26610481

Reference ranges of lymphocyte subsets balanced for age and gender from a population of healthy adults in Chongqing District of China.

PubMed

Zhang, Kejun; Wang, Feng; Zhang, Mingxu; Cao, Xinglu; Yang, Shaojun; Jia, Shuangrong; Wang, Lixin; Luo, Jie; Deng, Shaoli; Chen, Ming

2016-11-01

The enumeration of lymphocyte subsets plays an essential role in the monitoring of immunological disorders. Immunophenotyping values have been found to be influenced by race, age, gender, and environmental conditions. Therefore, it is important to establish reference ranges for healthy adults from the local population for clinical decision-making. The current study aimed to establish a normal reference range for peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets in healthy adults from the Chongqing District of China by using single-platform flow cytometry. Age- and gender-specific reference ranges were established in 268 healthy adult males and females between 21 and 60 years of age. The CD8+ cell counts decreased with age, CD4+ cell percentages and counts increased with age, and total T cell percentages were higher in the female population. Our results are similar to those reported from other parts of China but different from some results reported from other countries; this further stresses the need to establish local reference ranges by region. Our results will help in the management of patients with human immunodeficiency virus and other immunological disorders in Chongqing District. © 2015 International Clinical Cytometry Society. © 2015 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Opto-fluidics based microscopy and flow cytometry on a cell phone for blood analysis.

PubMed

Zhu, Hongying; Ozcan, Aydogan

2015-01-01

Blood analysis is one of the most important clinical tests for medical diagnosis. Flow cytometry and optical microscopy are widely used techniques to perform blood analysis and therefore cost-effective translation of these technologies to resource limited settings is critical for various global health as well as telemedicine applications. In this chapter, we review our recent progress on the integration of imaging flow cytometry and fluorescent microscopy on a cell phone using compact, light-weight and cost-effective opto-fluidic attachments integrated onto the camera module of a smartphone. In our cell-phone based opto-fluidic imaging cytometry design, fluorescently labeled cells are delivered into the imaging area using a disposable micro-fluidic chip that is positioned above the existing camera unit of the cell phone. Battery powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are butt-coupled to the sides of this micro-fluidic chip without any lenses, which effectively acts as a multimode slab waveguide, where the excitation light is guided to excite the fluorescent targets within the micro-fluidic chip. Since the excitation light propagates perpendicular to the detection path, an inexpensive plastic absorption filter is able to reject most of the scattered light and create a decent dark-field background for fluorescent imaging. With this excitation geometry, the cell-phone camera can record fluorescent movies of the particles/cells as they are flowing through the microchannel. The digital frames of these fluorescent movies are then rapidly processed to quantify the count and the density of the labeled particles/cells within the solution under test. With a similar opto-fluidic design, we have recently demonstrated imaging and automated counting of stationary blood cells (e.g., labeled white blood cells or unlabeled red blood cells) loaded within a disposable cell counting chamber. We tested the performance of this cell-phone based imaging cytometry and blood analysis platform by measuring the density of red and white blood cells as well as hemoglobin concentration in human blood samples, which showed a good match to our measurement results obtained using a commercially available hematology analyzer. Such a cell-phone enabled opto-fluidics microscopy, flow cytometry, and blood analysis platform could be especially useful for various telemedicine applications in remote and resource-limited settings.

High resolution light-sheet based high-throughput imaging cytometry system enables visualization of intra-cellular organelles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Regmi, Raju; Mohan, Kavya; Mondal, Partha Pratim

2014-09-01

Visualization of intracellular organelles is achieved using a newly developed high throughput imaging cytometry system. This system interrogates the microfluidic channel using a sheet of light rather than the existing point-based scanning techniques. The advantages of the developed system are many, including, single-shot scanning of specimens flowing through the microfluidic channel at flow rate ranging from micro- to nano- lit./min. Moreover, this opens-up in-vivo imaging of sub-cellular structures and simultaneous cell counting in an imaging cytometry system. We recorded a maximum count of 2400 cells/min at a flow-rate of 700 nl/min, and simultaneous visualization of fluorescently-labeled mitochondrial network in HeLa cells during flow. The developed imaging cytometry system may find immediate application in biotechnology, fluorescence microscopy and nano-medicine.

Novel in vivo flow cytometry platform for early prognosis of metastatic activity of circulating tumor cells (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nolan, Jacqueline; Cai, Chenzhoung; Nedosekin, Dmitry A.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2017-02-01

Approximately 8 million people lose their lives due to cancer each year. Metastatic disease is responsible for 90% of those cancer-related deaths. Only viable circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that can survive in the blood circulation can create secondary tumors. Thus, real-time enumeration of CTCs and assessment of their viability in vivo has great biological significance. However, little progress has been made in this field. Conventional flow cytometry is the current technique being used for the assessment of cell viability, but there are many limitations to this technique: 1) cell properties may be altered during the extraction and processing method; 2) collection of cells from blood prevents the long-term study of individual cells in their natural biological environment; and 3) there are time-consuming preparation procedures. Whether it be for the assessment of antitumor drugs, where induction of apoptosis or necrosis is the preferred event, or the identification of nanoparticle-induced toxicity during nanotherapeutic treatment, it is clear that new approaches for assessment of the viability circulating blood cells and CTCs are urgently needed. We have developed a novel high speed, multicolor in vivo flow cytometry (FC) platform that integrates photoacoustic (PA) and fluorescence FC (PAFFC) and demonstrate its ability to enumerate rare circulating normal and abnormal (e.g. tumor) cells and assess their viability (e.g. apoptotic and necrotic) in a mouse model.

The numerology of T cell functional diversity

PubMed Central

Haining, W. Nicholas

2013-01-01

Memory T cells are heterogeneous in phenotype and function. In this issue of Immunity Newell et al. (2012) use a new flow cytometry platform to show that the functional heterogeneity in the human T cell compartment is even greater than expected. PMID:22284416

Connecting the dots across time: reconstruction of single-cell signalling trajectories using time-stamped data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukherjee, Sayak; Stewart, David; Stewart, William; Lanier, Lewis L.; Das, Jayajit

2017-08-01

Single-cell responses are shaped by the geometry of signalling kinetic trajectories carved in a multidimensional space spanned by signalling protein abundances. It is, however, challenging to assay a large number (more than 3) of signalling species in live-cell imaging, which makes it difficult to probe single-cell signalling kinetic trajectories in large dimensions. Flow and mass cytometry techniques can measure a large number (4 to more than 40) of signalling species but are unable to track single cells. Thus, cytometry experiments provide detailed time-stamped snapshots of single-cell signalling kinetics. Is it possible to use the time-stamped cytometry data to reconstruct single-cell signalling trajectories? Borrowing concepts of conserved and slow variables from non-equilibrium statistical physics we develop an approach to reconstruct signalling trajectories using snapshot data by creating new variables that remain invariant or vary slowly during the signalling kinetics. We apply this approach to reconstruct trajectories using snapshot data obtained from in silico simulations, live-cell imaging measurements, and, synthetic flow cytometry datasets. The application of invariants and slow variables to reconstruct trajectories provides a radically different way to track objects using snapshot data. The approach is likely to have implications for solving matching problems in a wide range of disciplines.

FlowCal: A user-friendly, open source software tool for automatically converting flow cytometry data from arbitrary to calibrated units

PubMed Central

Castillo-Hair, Sebastian M.; Sexton, John T.; Landry, Brian P.; Olson, Evan J.; Igoshin, Oleg A.; Tabor, Jeffrey J.

2017-01-01

Flow cytometry is widely used to measure gene expression and other molecular biological processes with single cell resolution via fluorescent probes. Flow cytometers output data in arbitrary units (a.u.) that vary with the probe, instrument, and settings. Arbitrary units can be converted to the calibrated unit molecules of equivalent fluorophore (MEF) using commercially available calibration particles. However, there is no convenient, non-proprietary tool available to perform this calibration. Consequently, most researchers report data in a.u., limiting interpretation. Here, we report a software tool named FlowCal to overcome current limitations. FlowCal can be run using an intuitive Microsoft Excel interface, or customizable Python scripts. The software accepts Flow Cytometry Standard (FCS) files as inputs and is compatible with different calibration particles, fluorescent probes, and cell types. Additionally, FlowCal automatically gates data, calculates common statistics, and produces publication quality plots. We validate FlowCal by calibrating a.u. measurements of E. coli expressing superfolder GFP (sfGFP) collected at 10 different detector sensitivity (gain) settings to a single MEF value. Additionally, we reduce day-to-day variability in replicate E. coli sfGFP expression measurements due to instrument drift by 33%, and calibrate S. cerevisiae mVenus expression data to MEF units. Finally, we demonstrate a simple method for using FlowCal to calibrate fluorescence units across different cytometers. FlowCal should ease the quantitative analysis of flow cytometry data within and across laboratories and facilitate the adoption of standard fluorescence units in synthetic biology and beyond. PMID:27110723

FlowCam: Quantification and Classification of Phytoplankton by Imaging Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Poulton, Nicole J

2016-01-01

The ability to enumerate, classify, and determine biomass of phytoplankton from environmental samples is essential for determining ecosystem function and their role in the aquatic community and microbial food web. Traditional micro-phytoplankton quantification methods using microscopic techniques require preservation and are slow, tedious and very laborious. The availability of more automated imaging microscopy platforms has revolutionized the way particles and cells are detected within their natural environment. The ability to examine cells unaltered and without preservation is key to providing more accurate cell concentration estimates and overall phytoplankton biomass. The FlowCam(®) is an imaging cytometry tool that was originally developed for use in aquatic sciences and provides a more rapid and unbiased method for enumerating and classifying phytoplankton within diverse aquatic environments.

Cytometry standards continuum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.; Spidlen, Josef; Brinkman, Ryan R.

2008-02-01

Introduction: The International Society for Analytical Cytology, ISAC, is developing a new combined flow and image Analytical Cytometry Standard (ACS). This standard needs to serve both the research and clinical communities. The clinical medicine and clinical research communities have a need to exchange information with hospital and other clinical information systems. Methods: 1) Prototype the standard by creating CytometryML and a RAW format for binary data. 2) Join the ISAC Data Standards Task Force. 3) Create essential project documentation. 4) Cooperate with other groups by assisting in the preparation of the DICOM Supplement 122: Specimen Module and Pathology Service-Object Pair Classes. Results: CytometryML has been created and serves as a prototype and source of experience for the following: the Analytical Cytometry Standard (ACS) 1.0, the ACS container, Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt), and Requirements for a Data File Standard Format to Describe Flow Cytometry and Related Analytical Cytology Data. These requirements provide a means to judge the appropriateness of design elements and to develop tests for the final ACS. The requirements include providing the information required for understanding and reproducing a cytometry experiment or clinical measurement, and for a single standard for both flow and digital microscopic cytometry. Schemas proposed by other members of the ISAC Data Standards Task Force (e.g, Gating-ML) have been independently validated and have been integrated with CytometryML. The use of netCDF as an element of the ACS container has been proposed by others and a suggested method of its use is proposed.

Optofluidic Fluorescent Imaging Cytometry on a Cell Phone

PubMed Central

Zhu, Hongying; Mavandadi, Sam; Coskun, Ahmet F.; Yaglidere, Oguzhan; Ozcan, Aydogan

2012-01-01

Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry are widely used tools in biomedical sciences. Cost-effective translation of these technologies to remote and resource-limited environments could create new opportunities especially for telemedicine applications. Toward this direction, here we demonstrate the integration of imaging cytometry and fluorescent microscopy on a cell phone using a compact, lightweight, and cost-effective optofluidic attachment. In this cell-phone-based optofluidic imaging cytometry platform, fluorescently labeled particles or cells of interest are continuously delivered to our imaging volume through a disposable microfluidic channel that is positioned above the existing camera unit of the cell phone. The same microfluidic device also acts as a multilayered optofluidic waveguide and efficiently guides our excitation light, which is butt-coupled from the side facets of our microfluidic channel using inexpensive light-emitting diodes. Since the excitation of the sample volume occurs through guided waves that propagate perpendicular to the detection path, our cell-phone camera can record fluorescent movies of the specimens as they are flowing through the microchannel. The digital frames of these fluorescent movies are then rapidly processed to quantify the count and the density of the labeled particles/cells within the target solution of interest. We tested the performance of our cell-phone-based imaging cytometer by measuring the density of white blood cells in human blood samples, which provided a decent match to a commercially available hematology analyzer. We further characterized the imaging quality of the same platform to demonstrate a spatial resolution of ~2 μm. This cell-phone-enabled optofluidic imaging flow cytometer could especially be useful for rapid and sensitive imaging of bodily fluids for conducting various cell counts (e.g., toward monitoring of HIV+ patients) or rare cell analysis as well as for screening of water quality in remote and resource-poor settings. PMID:21774454

Optofluidic fluorescent imaging cytometry on a cell phone.

PubMed

Zhu, Hongying; Mavandadi, Sam; Coskun, Ahmet F; Yaglidere, Oguzhan; Ozcan, Aydogan

2011-09-01

Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry are widely used tools in biomedical sciences. Cost-effective translation of these technologies to remote and resource-limited environments could create new opportunities especially for telemedicine applications. Toward this direction, here we demonstrate the integration of imaging cytometry and fluorescent microscopy on a cell phone using a compact, lightweight, and cost-effective optofluidic attachment. In this cell-phone-based optofluidic imaging cytometry platform, fluorescently labeled particles or cells of interest are continuously delivered to our imaging volume through a disposable microfluidic channel that is positioned above the existing camera unit of the cell phone. The same microfluidic device also acts as a multilayered optofluidic waveguide and efficiently guides our excitation light, which is butt-coupled from the side facets of our microfluidic channel using inexpensive light-emitting diodes. Since the excitation of the sample volume occurs through guided waves that propagate perpendicular to the detection path, our cell-phone camera can record fluorescent movies of the specimens as they are flowing through the microchannel. The digital frames of these fluorescent movies are then rapidly processed to quantify the count and the density of the labeled particles/cells within the target solution of interest. We tested the performance of our cell-phone-based imaging cytometer by measuring the density of white blood cells in human blood samples, which provided a decent match to a commercially available hematology analyzer. We further characterized the imaging quality of the same platform to demonstrate a spatial resolution of ~2 μm. This cell-phone-enabled optofluidic imaging flow cytometer could especially be useful for rapid and sensitive imaging of bodily fluids for conducting various cell counts (e.g., toward monitoring of HIV+ patients) or rare cell analysis as well as for screening of water quality in remote and resource-poor settings.

Supercontinuum white light lasers for flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Telford, William G.; Subach, Fedor V.; Verkhusha, Vladislav V.

2009-01-01

Excitation of fluorescent probes for flow cytometry has traditionally been limited to a few discrete laser lines, an inherent limitation in our ability to excite the vast array of fluorescent probes available for cellular analysis. In this report, we have used a supercontinuum (SC) white light laser as an excitation source for flow cytometry. By selectively filtering the wavelength of interest, almost any laser wavelength in the visible spectrum can be separated and used for flow cytometric analysis. The white light lasers used in this study were integrated into a commercial flow cytometry platform, and a series of high-transmission bandpass filters used to select wavelength ranges from the blue (~480 nm) to the long red (>700 nm). Cells labeled with a variety of fluorescent probes or expressing fluorescent proteins were then analyzed, in comparison with traditional lasers emitting at wavelengths similar to the filtered SC source. Based on a standard sensitivity metric, the white light laser bandwidths produced similar excitation levels to traditional lasers for a wide variety of fluorescent probes and expressible proteins. Sensitivity assessment using fluorescent bead arrays confirmed that the SC laser and traditional sources resulted in similar levels of detection sensitivity. Supercontinuum white light laser sources therefore have the potential to remove a significant barrier in flow cytometric analysis, namely the limitation of excitation wavelengths. Almost any visible wavelength range can be made available for excitation, allowing access to virtually any fluorescent probe, and permitting “fine-tuning” of excitation wavelength to particular probes. PMID:19072836

Wide-field Fluorescent Microscopy and Fluorescent Imaging Flow Cytometry on a Cell-phone

PubMed Central

Zhu, Hongying; Ozcan, Aydogan

2013-01-01

Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry are widely used tools in biomedical research and clinical diagnosis. However these devices are in general relatively bulky and costly, making them less effective in the resource limited settings. To potentially address these limitations, we have recently demonstrated the integration of wide-field fluorescent microscopy and imaging flow cytometry tools on cell-phones using compact, light-weight, and cost-effective opto-fluidic attachments. In our flow cytometry design, fluorescently labeled cells are flushed through a microfluidic channel that is positioned above the existing cell-phone camera unit. Battery powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are butt-coupled to the side of this microfluidic chip, which effectively acts as a multi-mode slab waveguide, where the excitation light is guided to uniformly excite the fluorescent targets. The cell-phone camera records a time lapse movie of the fluorescent cells flowing through the microfluidic channel, where the digital frames of this movie are processed to count the number of the labeled cells within the target solution of interest. Using a similar opto-fluidic design, we can also image these fluorescently labeled cells in static mode by e.g. sandwiching the fluorescent particles between two glass slides and capturing their fluorescent images using the cell-phone camera, which can achieve a spatial resolution of e.g. ~ 10 μm over a very large field-of-view of ~ 81 mm2. This cell-phone based fluorescent imaging flow cytometry and microscopy platform might be useful especially in resource limited settings, for e.g. counting of CD4+ T cells toward monitoring of HIV+ patients or for detection of water-borne parasites in drinking water. PMID:23603893

Wide-field fluorescent microscopy and fluorescent imaging flow cytometry on a cell-phone.

PubMed

Zhu, Hongying; Ozcan, Aydogan

2013-04-11

Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry are widely used tools in biomedical research and clinical diagnosis. However these devices are in general relatively bulky and costly, making them less effective in the resource limited settings. To potentially address these limitations, we have recently demonstrated the integration of wide-field fluorescent microscopy and imaging flow cytometry tools on cell-phones using compact, light-weight, and cost-effective opto-fluidic attachments. In our flow cytometry design, fluorescently labeled cells are flushed through a microfluidic channel that is positioned above the existing cell-phone camera unit. Battery powered light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are butt-coupled to the side of this microfluidic chip, which effectively acts as a multi-mode slab waveguide, where the excitation light is guided to uniformly excite the fluorescent targets. The cell-phone camera records a time lapse movie of the fluorescent cells flowing through the microfluidic channel, where the digital frames of this movie are processed to count the number of the labeled cells within the target solution of interest. Using a similar opto-fluidic design, we can also image these fluorescently labeled cells in static mode by e.g. sandwiching the fluorescent particles between two glass slides and capturing their fluorescent images using the cell-phone camera, which can achieve a spatial resolution of e.g. - 10 μm over a very large field-of-view of - 81 mm(2). This cell-phone based fluorescent imaging flow cytometry and microscopy platform might be useful especially in resource limited settings, for e.g. counting of CD4+ T cells toward monitoring of HIV+ patients or for detection of water-borne parasites in drinking water.

Development of small and inexpensive digital data acquisition systems using a microcontroller-based approach†

PubMed Central

Naivar, Mark A.; Wilder, Mark E.; Habbersett, Robert C.; Woods, Travis A.; Sebba, David S.; Nolan, John P.; Graves, Steven W.

2014-01-01

Fully digital data acquisition systems for use in flow cytometry provide excellent flexibility and precision. Here, we demonstrate the development of a low cost, small, and low power digital flow cytometry data acquisition system using a single microcontroller chip with an integrated analog to digital converter (ADC). Our demonstration system uses a commercially available evaluation board making the system simple to integrate into a flow cytometer. We have evaluated this system using calibration microspheres analyzed on commercial, slow-flow, and CCD based flow cytometers. In our evaluations, our demonstration data system clearly resolves all eight peaks of a Rainbow microsphere set on both a slow-flow flow cytometer and a retrofitted BD FACScalibur, which indicates it has the sensitivity and resolution required for most flow cytometry applications. It is also capable of millisecond time resolution, full waveform collection, and selective triggering of data collection from a CCD camera. The capability of our demonstration system suggests that the use of microcontrollers for flow cytometry digital data-acquisition will be increasingly valuable for extending the life of older cytometers and provides a compelling data-system design approach for low-cost, portable flow cytometers. PMID:19852060

Development of small and inexpensive digital data acquisition systems using a microcontroller-based approach.

PubMed

Naivar, Mark A; Wilder, Mark E; Habbersett, Robert C; Woods, Travis A; Sebba, David S; Nolan, John P; Graves, Steven W

2009-12-01

Fully digital data acquisition systems for use in flow cytometry provide excellent flexibility and precision. Here, we demonstrate the development of a low cost, small, and low power digital flow cytometry data acquisition system using a single microcontroller chip with an integrated analog to digital converter (ADC). Our demonstration system uses a commercially available evaluation board making the system simple to integrate into a flow cytometer. We have evaluated this system using calibration microspheres analyzed on commercial, slow-flow, and CCD-based flow cytometers. In our evaluations, our demonstration data system clearly resolves all eight peaks of a Rainbow microsphere set on both a slow-flow flow cytometer and a retrofitted BD FACScalibur, which indicates it has the sensitivity and resolution required for most flow cytometry applications. It is also capable of millisecond time resolution, full waveform collection, and selective triggering of data collection from a CCD camera. The capability of our demonstration system suggests that the use of microcontrollers for flow cytometry digital data-acquisition will be increasingly valuable for extending the life of older cytometers and provides a compelling data-system design approach for low-cost, portable flow cytometers.

Modeling of cytometry data in logarithmic space: When is a bimodal distribution not bimodal?

PubMed

Erez, Amir; Vogel, Robert; Mugler, Andrew; Belmonte, Andrew; Altan-Bonnet, Grégoire

2018-02-16

Recent efforts in systems immunology lead researchers to build quantitative models of cell activation and differentiation. One goal is to account for the distributions of proteins from single-cell measurements by flow cytometry or mass cytometry as readout of biological regulation. In that context, large cell-to-cell variability is often observed in biological quantities. We show here that these readouts, viewed in logarithmic scale may result in two easily-distinguishable modes, while the underlying distribution (in linear scale) is unimodal. We introduce a simple mathematical test to highlight this mismatch. We then dissect the flow of influence of cell-to-cell variability proposing a graphical model which motivates higher-dimensional analysis of the data. Finally we show how acquiring additional biological information can be used to reduce uncertainty introduced by cell-to-cell variability, helping to clarify whether the data is uni- or bimodal. This communication has cautionary implications for manual and automatic gating strategies, as well as clustering and modeling of single-cell measurements. © 2018 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. © 2018 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Two-Photon Flow Cytometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zhog, Cheng Frank; Ye, Jing Yong; Norris, Theodore B.; Myc, Andrzej; Cao, Zhengyl; Bielinska, Anna; Thomas, Thommey; Baker, James R., Jr.

2004-01-01

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique for obtaining quantitative information from fluorescence in cells. Quantitation is achieved by assuring a high degree of uniformity in the optical excitation and detection, generally by using a highly controlled flow such as is obtained via hydrodynamic focusing. In this work, we demonstrate a two-beam, two- channel detection and two-photon excitation flow cytometry (T(sup 3)FC) system that enables multi-dye analysis to be performed very simply, with greatly relaxed requirements on the fluid flow. Two-photon excitation using a femtosecond near-infrared (NIR) laser has the advantages that it enables simultaneous excitation of multiple dyes and achieves very high signal-to-noise ratio through simplified filtering and fluorescence background reduction. By matching the excitation volume to the size of a cell, single-cell detection is ensured. Labeling of cells by targeted nanoparticles with multiple fluorophores enables normalization of the fluorescence signal and thus ratiometric measurements under nonuniform excitation. Quantitative size measurements can also be done even under conditions of nonuniform flow via a two-beam layout. This innovative detection scheme not only considerably simplifies the fluid flow system and the excitation and collection optics, it opens the way to quantitative cytometry in simple and compact microfluidics systems, or in vivo. Real-time detection of fluorescent microbeads in the vasculature of mouse ear demonstrates the ability to do flow cytometry in vivo. The conditions required to perform quantitative in vivo cytometry on labeled cells will be presented.

Design and first results of CytoBuoy: a wireless flow cytometer for in situ analysis of marine and fresh waters.

PubMed

Dubelaar, G B; Gerritzen, P L; Beeker, A E; Jonker, R R; Tangen, K

1999-12-01

The high costs of microscopical determination and counting of phytoplankton often limit sampling frequencies below an acceptable level for the monitoring of dynamic ecosystems. Although having a limited discrimination power, flow cytometry allows the analysis of large numbers of samples to a level that is sufficient for many basic monitoring jobs. For this purpose, flow cytometers should not be restricted to research laboratories. We report here on the development of an in situ flow cytometer for autonomous operation inside a small moored buoy or on other platforms. Operational specifications served a wide range of applications in the aquatic field. Specific conditions had to be met with respect to the operation platform and autonomy. A small, battery-operated flow cytometer resulted, requiring no external sheath fluid supply. Because it was designed to operate in a buoy, we call it CytoBuoy. Sampling, analysis, and radio transmission of the data proceed automatically at user-defined intervals. A powerful feature is the acquisition and radio transmission of full detector pulse shapes of each particle. This provides valuable morphological information for particles larger than the 5-microm laser focus. CytoBuoy allows on-line in situ particle analysis, estimation of phytoplankton biomass, and discrimination between different phytoplankton groups. This will increase the applicability of flow cytometry in the field of environmental monitoring. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Prostate extracellular vesicles in patient plasma as a liquid biopsy platform for prostate cancer using nanoscale flow cytometry.

PubMed

Biggs, Colleen N; Siddiqui, Khurram M; Al-Zahrani, Ali A; Pardhan, Siddika; Brett, Sabine I; Guo, Qiu Q; Yang, Jun; Wolf, Philipp; Power, Nicholas E; Durfee, Paul N; MacMillan, Connor D; Townson, Jason L; Brinker, Jeffrey C; Fleshner, Neil E; Izawa, Jonathan I; Chambers, Ann F; Chin, Joseph L; Leong, Hon S

2016-02-23

Extracellular vesicles released by prostate cancer present in seminal fluid, urine, and blood may represent a non-invasive means to identify and prioritize patients with intermediate risk and high risk of prostate cancer. We hypothesize that enumeration of circulating prostate microparticles (PMPs), a type of extracellular vesicle (EV), can identify patients with Gleason Score≥4+4 prostate cancer (PCa) in a manner independent of PSA. Plasmas from healthy volunteers, benign prostatic hyperplasia patients, and PCa patients with various Gleason score patterns were analyzed for PMPs. We used nanoscale flow cytometry to enumerate PMPs which were defined as submicron events (100-1000nm) immunoreactive to anti-PSMA mAb when compared to isotype control labeled samples. Levels of PMPs (counts/µL of plasma) were also compared to CellSearch CTC Subclasses in various PCa metastatic disease subtypes (treatment naïve, castration resistant prostate cancer) and in serially collected plasma sets from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. PMP levels in plasma as enumerated by nanoscale flow cytometry are effective in distinguishing PCa patients with Gleason Score≥8 disease, a high-risk prognostic factor, from patients with Gleason Score≤7 PCa, which carries an intermediate risk of PCa recurrence. PMP levels were independent of PSA and significantly decreased after surgical resection of the prostate, demonstrating its prognostic potential for clinical follow-up. CTC subclasses did not decrease after prostatectomy and were not effective in distinguishing localized PCa patients from metastatic PCa patients. PMP enumeration was able to identify patients with Gleason Score ≥8 PCa but not patients with Gleason Score 4+3 PCa, but offers greater confidence than CTC counts in identifying patients with metastatic prostate cancer. CTC Subclass analysis was also not effective for post-prostatectomy follow up and for distinguishing metastatic PCa and localized PCa patients. Nanoscale flow cytometry of PMPs presents an emerging biomarker platform for various stages of prostate cancer.

Prostate extracellular vesicles in patient plasma as a liquid biopsy platform for prostate cancer using nanoscale flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Al-Zahrani, Ali A.; Pardhan, Siddika; Brett, Sabine I.; Guo, Qiu Q.; Yang, Jun; Wolf, Philipp; Power, Nicholas E.; Durfee, Paul N.; MacMillan, Connor D.; Townson, Jason L.; Brinker, Jeffrey C.; Fleshner, Neil E.; Izawa, Jonathan I.; Chambers, Ann F.; Chin, Joseph L.; Leong, Hon S.

2016-01-01

Background Extracellular vesicles released by prostate cancer present in seminal fluid, urine, and blood may represent a non-invasive means to identify and prioritize patients with intermediate risk and high risk of prostate cancer. We hypothesize that enumeration of circulating prostate microparticles (PMPs), a type of extracellular vesicle (EV), can identify patients with Gleason Score≥4+4 prostate cancer (PCa) in a manner independent of PSA. Patients and Methods Plasmas from healthy volunteers, benign prostatic hyperplasia patients, and PCa patients with various Gleason score patterns were analyzed for PMPs. We used nanoscale flow cytometry to enumerate PMPs which were defined as submicron events (100-1000nm) immunoreactive to anti-PSMA mAb when compared to isotype control labeled samples. Levels of PMPs (counts/μL of plasma) were also compared to CellSearch CTC Subclasses in various PCa metastatic disease subtypes (treatment naïve, castration resistant prostate cancer) and in serially collected plasma sets from patients undergoing radical prostatectomy. Results PMP levels in plasma as enumerated by nanoscale flow cytometry are effective in distinguishing PCa patients with Gleason Score≥8 disease, a high-risk prognostic factor, from patients with Gleason Score≤7 PCa, which carries an intermediate risk of PCa recurrence. PMP levels were independent of PSA and significantly decreased after surgical resection of the prostate, demonstrating its prognostic potential for clinical follow-up. CTC subclasses did not decrease after prostatectomy and were not effective in distinguishing localized PCa patients from metastatic PCa patients. Conclusions PMP enumeration was able to identify patients with Gleason Score ≥8 PCa but not patients with Gleason Score 4+3 PCa, but offers greater confidence than CTC counts in identifying patients with metastatic prostate cancer. CTC Subclass analysis was also not effective for post-prostatectomy follow up and for distinguishing metastatic PCa and localized PCa patients. Nanoscale flow cytometry of PMPs presents an emerging biomarker platform for various stages of prostate cancer. PMID:26814433

High-throughput autofluorescence flow cytometry of breast cancer metabolism (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shah, Amy T.; Cannon, Taylor M.; Higginbotham, Jim N.; Skala, Melissa C.

2016-02-01

Tumor heterogeneity poses challenges for devising optimal treatment regimens for cancer patients. In particular, subpopulations of cells can escape treatment and cause relapse. There is a need for methods to characterize tumor heterogeneity of treatment response. Cell metabolism is altered in cancer (Warburg effect), and cells use the autofluorescent cofactor NADH in numerous metabolic reactions. Previous studies have shown that microscopy measurements of NADH autofluorescence are sensitive to treatment response in breast cancer, and these techniques typically assess hundreds of cells per group. An alternative approach is flow cytometry, which measures fluorescence on a single-cell level and is attractive for characterizing tumor heterogeneity because it achieves high-throughput analysis and cell sorting in millions of cells per group. Current applications for flow cytometry rely on staining with fluorophores. This study characterizes flow cytometry measurements of NADH autofluorescence in breast cancer cells. Preliminary results indicate flow cytometry of NADH is sensitive to cyanide perturbation, which inhibits oxidative phosphorylation, in nonmalignant MCF10A cells. Additionally, flow cytometry is sensitive to higher NADH intensity for HER2-positive SKBr3 cells compared with triple-negative MDA-MB-231 cells. These results agree with previous microscopy studies. Finally, a mixture of SKBr3 and MDA-MB-231 cells were sorted into each cell type using NADH intensity. Sorted cells were cultured, and microscopy validation showed the expected morphology for each cell type. Ultimately, flow cytometry could be applied to characterize tumor heterogeneity based on treatment response and sort cell subpopulations based on metabolic profile. These achievements could enable individualized treatment strategies and improved patient outcomes.

Stochastic Individual-Based Modeling of Bacterial Growth and Division Using Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

García, Míriam R; Vázquez, José A; Teixeira, Isabel G; Alonso, Antonio A

2017-01-01

A realistic description of the variability in bacterial growth and division is critical to produce reliable predictions of safety risks along the food chain. Individual-based modeling of bacteria provides the theoretical framework to deal with this variability, but it requires information about the individual behavior of bacteria inside populations. In this work, we overcome this problem by estimating the individual behavior of bacteria from population statistics obtained with flow cytometry. For this objective, a stochastic individual-based modeling framework is defined based on standard assumptions during division and exponential growth. The unknown single-cell parameters required for running the individual-based modeling simulations, such as cell size growth rate, are estimated from the flow cytometry data. Instead of using directly the individual-based model, we make use of a modified Fokker-Plank equation. This only equation simulates the population statistics in function of the unknown single-cell parameters. We test the validity of the approach by modeling the growth and division of Pediococcus acidilactici within the exponential phase. Estimations reveal the statistics of cell growth and division using only data from flow cytometry at a given time. From the relationship between the mother and daughter volumes, we also predict that P. acidilactici divide into two successive parallel planes.

Discovering cell types in flow cytometry data with random matrix theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Yang; Nussenblatt, Robert; Losert, Wolfgang

Flow cytometry is a widely used experimental technique in immunology research. During the experiments, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from a single patient, labeled with multiple fluorescent stains that bind to different proteins, are illuminated by a laser. The intensity of each stain on a single cell is recorded and reflects the amount of protein expressed by that cell. The data analysis focuses on identifying specific cell types related to a disease. Different cell types can be identified by the type and amount of protein they express. To date, this has most often been done manually by labelling a protein as expressed or not while ignoring the amount of expression. Using a cross correlation matrix of stain intensities, which contains both information on the proteins expressed and their amount, has been largely ignored by researchers as it suffers from measurement noise. Here we present an algorithm to identify cell types in flow cytometry data which uses random matrix theory (RMT) to reduce noise in a cross correlation matrix. We demonstrate our method using a published flow cytometry data set. Compared with previous analysis techniques, we were able to rediscover relevant cell types in an automatic way. Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.

Drug testing and flow cytometry analysis on a large number of uniform sized tumor spheroids using a microfluidic device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patra, Bishnubrata; Peng, Chien-Chung; Liao, Wei-Hao; Lee, Chau-Hwang; Tung, Yi-Chung

2016-02-01

Three-dimensional (3D) tumor spheroid possesses great potential as an in vitro model to improve predictive capacity for pre-clinical drug testing. In this paper, we combine advantages of flow cytometry and microfluidics to perform drug testing and analysis on a large number (5000) of uniform sized tumor spheroids. The spheroids are formed, cultured, and treated with drugs inside a microfluidic device. The spheroids can then be harvested from the device without tedious operation. Due to the ample cell numbers, the spheroids can be dissociated into single cells for flow cytometry analysis. Flow cytometry provides statistical information in single cell resolution that makes it feasible to better investigate drug functions on the cells in more in vivo-like 3D formation. In the experiments, human hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) are exploited to form tumor spheroids within the microfluidic device, and three anti-cancer drugs: Cisplatin, Resveratrol, and Tirapazamine (TPZ), and their combinations are tested on the tumor spheroids with two different sizes. The experimental results suggest the cell culture format (2D monolayer vs. 3D spheroid) and spheroid size play critical roles in drug responses, and also demonstrate the advantages of bridging the two techniques in pharmaceutical drug screening applications.

Real-time Image Processing for Microscopy-based Label-free Imaging Flow Cytometry in a Microfluidic Chip.

PubMed

Heo, Young Jin; Lee, Donghyeon; Kang, Junsu; Lee, Keondo; Chung, Wan Kyun

2017-09-14

Imaging flow cytometry (IFC) is an emerging technology that acquires single-cell images at high-throughput for analysis of a cell population. Rich information that comes from high sensitivity and spatial resolution of a single-cell microscopic image is beneficial for single-cell analysis in various biological applications. In this paper, we present a fast image-processing pipeline (R-MOD: Real-time Moving Object Detector) based on deep learning for high-throughput microscopy-based label-free IFC in a microfluidic chip. The R-MOD pipeline acquires all single-cell images of cells in flow, and identifies the acquired images as a real-time process with minimum hardware that consists of a microscope and a high-speed camera. Experiments show that R-MOD has the fast and reliable accuracy (500 fps and 93.3% mAP), and is expected to be used as a powerful tool for biomedical and clinical applications.

The numerology of T cell functional diversity.

PubMed

Haining, W Nicholas

2012-01-27

Memory T cells are heterogeneous in phenotype and function. In this issue of Immunity, Newell et al. (2012) use a new flow cytometry platform to show that the functional heterogeneity of the human T cell compartment is even greater than previously thought. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Real Time Detection of Protein Trafficking with High Throughput Flow Cytometry (HTFC) and Fluorogen Activating Protein (FAP) Base Biosensor

PubMed Central

Wu, Yang; Tapia, Phillip H.; Jarvik, Jonathan; Waggoner, Alan S.; Sklar, Larry A.

2014-01-01

We combined fluorogen activating protein (FAP) technology with high-throughput flow cytometry to detect real-time protein trafficking to and from the plasma membrane in living cells. The hybrid platform allows drug discovery for trafficking receptors, such as G-protein coupled receptors, receptor tyrosine kinases and ion channels, that were previously not suitable for high throughput screening by flow cytometry.. The system has been validated using the β2-adrenergic receptor (β2AR) system and extended to other GPCRs. When a chemical library containing ~1,200 off-patent drugs was screened against cells expressing FAP tagged β2AR, all known β2AR active ligands in the library were successfully identified, together with a few compounds that were later confirmed to regulate receptor internalization in a non-traditional manner. The unexpected discovery of new ligands by this approach indicates the potential of using this protocol for GPCR de-orphanization. In addition, screens of multiplexed targets promise improved efficiency with minor protocol modification. PMID:24510772

Utilization of microparticles in next-generation assays for microflow cytometers.

PubMed

Kim, Jason S; Ligler, Frances S

2010-11-01

Micron-sized particles have primarily been used in microfabricated flow cytometers for calibration purposes and proof-of-concept experiments. With increasing frequency, microparticles are serving as a platform for assays measured in these small analytical devices. Light scattering has been used to measure the agglomeration of antibody-coated particles in the presence of an antigen. Impedance detection is another technology being integrated into microflow cytometers for microparticle-based assays. Fluorescence is the most popular detection method in flow cytometry, enabling highly sensitive multiplexed assays. Finally, magnetic particles have also been used to measure antigen levels using a magnetophoretic micro-device. We review the progress of microparticle-based assays in microflow cytometry in terms of the advantages and limitations of each approach.

Single-Cell Measurements of IgE-Mediated FcεRI Signaling Using an Integrated Microfluidic Platform

DOE PAGES

Liu, Yanli; Barua, Dipak; Liu, Peng; ...

2013-03-27

Heterogeneity in responses of cells to a stimulus, such as a pathogen or allergen, can potentially play an important role in deciding the fate of the responding cell population and the overall systemic response. Measuring heterogeneous responses requires tools capable of interrogating individual cells. Cell signaling studies commonly do not have single-cell resolution because of the limitations of techniques used such as Westerns, ELISAs, mass spectrometry, and DNA microarrays. Microfluidics devices are increasingly being used to overcome these limitations. In this paper, we report on a microfluidic platform for cell signaling analysis that combines two orthogonal single-cell measurement technologies: on-chipmore » flow cytometry and optical imaging. The device seamlessly integrates cell culture, stimulation, and preparation with downstream measurements permitting hands-free, automated analysis to minimize experimental variability. The platform was used to interrogate IgE receptor (FcεRI) signaling, which is responsible for triggering allergic reactions, in RBL-2H3 cells. Following on-chip crosslinking of IgE-FcεRI complexes by multivalent antigen, we monitored signaling events including protein phosphorylation, calcium mobilization and the release of inflammatory mediators. The results demonstrate the ability of our platform to produce quantitative measurements on a cell-by-cell basis from just a few hundred cells. Finally, model-based analysis of the Syk phosphorylation data suggests that heterogeneity in Syk phosphorylation can be attributed to protein copy number variations, with the level of Syk phosphorylation being particularly sensitive to the copy number of Lyn.« less

An open-source solution for advanced imaging flow cytometry data analysis using machine learning.

PubMed

Hennig, Holger; Rees, Paul; Blasi, Thomas; Kamentsky, Lee; Hung, Jane; Dao, David; Carpenter, Anne E; Filby, Andrew

2017-01-01

Imaging flow cytometry (IFC) enables the high throughput collection of morphological and spatial information from hundreds of thousands of single cells. This high content, information rich image data can in theory resolve important biological differences among complex, often heterogeneous biological samples. However, data analysis is often performed in a highly manual and subjective manner using very limited image analysis techniques in combination with conventional flow cytometry gating strategies. This approach is not scalable to the hundreds of available image-based features per cell and thus makes use of only a fraction of the spatial and morphometric information. As a result, the quality, reproducibility and rigour of results are limited by the skill, experience and ingenuity of the data analyst. Here, we describe a pipeline using open-source software that leverages the rich information in digital imagery using machine learning algorithms. Compensated and corrected raw image files (.rif) data files from an imaging flow cytometer (the proprietary .cif file format) are imported into the open-source software CellProfiler, where an image processing pipeline identifies cells and subcellular compartments allowing hundreds of morphological features to be measured. This high-dimensional data can then be analysed using cutting-edge machine learning and clustering approaches using "user-friendly" platforms such as CellProfiler Analyst. Researchers can train an automated cell classifier to recognize different cell types, cell cycle phases, drug treatment/control conditions, etc., using supervised machine learning. This workflow should enable the scientific community to leverage the full analytical power of IFC-derived data sets. It will help to reveal otherwise unappreciated populations of cells based on features that may be hidden to the human eye that include subtle measured differences in label free detection channels such as bright-field and dark-field imagery. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A high-throughput flow cytometry-on-a-CMOS platform for single-cell dielectric spectroscopy at microwave frequencies.

PubMed

Chien, Jun-Chau; Ameri, Ali; Yeh, Erh-Chia; Killilea, Alison N; Anwar, Mekhail; Niknejad, Ali M

2018-06-06

This work presents a microfluidics-integrated label-free flow cytometry-on-a-CMOS platform for the characterization of the cytoplasm dielectric properties at microwave frequencies. Compared with MHz impedance cytometers, operating at GHz frequencies offers direct intracellular permittivity probing due to electric fields penetrating through the cellular membrane. To overcome the detection challenges at high frequencies, the spectrometer employs on-chip oscillator-based sensors, which embeds simultaneous frequency generation, electrode excitation, and signal detection capabilities. By employing an injection-locking phase-detection technique, the spectrometer offers state-of-the-art sensitivity, achieving a less than 1 aFrms capacitance detection limit (or 5 ppm in frequency-shift) at a 100 kHz noise filtering bandwidth, enabling high throughput (>1k cells per s), with a measured cellular SNR of more than 28 dB. With CMOS/microfluidics co-design, we distribute four sensing channels at 6.5, 11, 17.5, and 30 GHz in an arrayed format whereas the frequencies are selected to center around the water relaxation frequency at 18 GHz. An issue in the integration of CMOS and microfluidics due to size mismatch is also addressed through introducing a cost-efficient epoxy-molding technique. With 3-D hydrodynamic focusing microfluidics, we perform characterization on four different cell lines including two breast cell lines (MCF-10A and MDA-MB-231) and two leukocyte cell lines (K-562 and THP-1). After normalizing the higher frequency signals to the 6.5 GHz ones, the size-independent dielectric opacity shows a differentiable distribution at 17.5 GHz between normal (0.905 ± 0.160, mean ± std.) and highly metastatic (1.033 ± 0.107) breast cells with p ≪ 0.001.

Detection and isolation of rare cells by 2-step enrichment high-speed flow cytometry/cell sorting and single cell LEAP laser ablation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zordan, M. D.; Leary, James F.

2011-02-01

The clonal isolation of rare cells, especially cancer and stem cells, in a population is important to the development of improved medical treatment. We have demonstrated that the Laser-Enabled Analysis and Processing (LEAP, Cyntellect Inc., San Diego, CA) instrument can be used to efficiently produce single cell clones by photoablative dilution. Additionally, we have also shown that cells present at low frequencies can be cloned by photoablative dilution after they are pre-enriched by flow cytometry based cell sorting. Circulating tumor cells were modeled by spiking isolated peripheral blood cells with cells from the lung carcinoma cell line A549. Flow cytometry based cell sorting was used to perform an enrichment sort of A549 cells directly into a 384 well plate. Photoablative dilution was performed with the LEAPTM instrument to remove any contaminating cells, and clonally isolate 1 side population cell per well. We were able to isolate and grow single clones of side population cells using this method at greater than 90% efficiency. We have developed a 2 step method that is able to perform the clonal isolation of rare cells based on a medically relevant functional phenotype.

Validation of a single-platform, volumetric, flow cytometry for CD4 T cell count monitoring in therapeutic mobile unit

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background A mobile health unit may be useful to follow up adult and pediatric patients on antiretroviral treatment and living in remote areas devoid of laboratory facilities. The study evaluated the use of the simplified, robust, single-plateform, volumetric, pan-leucogating Auto40 flow cytometer (Apogee Flow Systems Ltd, Hemel Hempstead, UK) for CD4 T cell numeration in a mobile unit, compared against a reference flow cytometry method. Methods The therapeutic mobile unit of the Laboratoire National de Santé Hygiène Mobile, Yaoundé, Cameroon, was equipped with the Auto40. A FACSCalibur flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson Immuno-cytometry System, San Jose, CA, USA) was used as reference method. EDTA-blood samples from volunteers were first subjected to CD4 T cell count in the mobile unit, and an aliquot was sent within 4 hours to Centre International de Référence Chantal Biya, Yaoundé, for FACSCalibur assay. Results Two HIV screening campaigns with the mobile unit were organised in December 2009 and January 2010. The campaign in the suburb of Yaoundé which was 20 km from the reference laboratory included 188 volunteers comprising 93 children less than 5 years old. The campaign in Ambang Bikok (53 km far from Yaoundé) included 69 adult volunteers. In Yaoundé suburb, mean ± standard deviation (SD) CD4 T cell count was 996 ± 874 cells/μl by Auto40, and 989 ± 883 cells/μl by FACSCalibur; in Ambang Bikok, mean ± SD CD4 T cell count was 1041 ± 317 cells/μl by Auto40, and 1032 ± 294 cells/μl by FACSCalibur. Results by Auto40 and FACSCalibur were highly correlated in Yaoundé (r2 = 0.982) as in Ambang Bikok (r2 = 0.921). Bland-Altman analysis showed a close agreement between Auto40 and FACSCalibur results expressed in absolute count as in percentage in Yaoundé and Ambang Bikok. When pooling the 257 CD4 T cell count measurements, the Auto40 yielded a mean difference of +7.6 CD4 T cells/μl higher than by reference flow cytometry; and the sensitivity and specificity of Auto40 in enumerating absolute CD4 T cell counts of less than 200 cells/μl were 87% and 99%, respectively, and in enumerating absolute CD4 T cell counts of less than 350 cells/μl were 87% and 98%, respectively. The intrarun and interun precisions of the Auto40 assay assessed in the mobile unit were 5.5% and 7.9%, respectively. Conclusions The Auto40 flow cytometer installed in a therapeutic mobile unit and operated far from its reference laboratory gave a perfect correlation with the reference method, and could be useful in carrying out immunological monitoring of HIV-infected patients living in areas without access to laboratory facilities. PMID:22309994

Design and Application of Sensors for Chemical Cytometry.

PubMed

Vickerman, Brianna M; Anttila, Matthew M; Petersen, Brae V; Allbritton, Nancy L; Lawrence, David S

2018-02-08

The bulk cell population response to a stimulus, be it a growth factor or a cytotoxic agent, neglects the cell-to-cell variability that can serve as a friend or as a foe in human biology. Biochemical variations among closely related cells furnish the basis for the adaptability of the immune system but also act as the root cause of resistance to chemotherapy by tumors. Consequently, the ability to probe for the presence of key biochemical variables at the single-cell level is now recognized to be of significant biological and biomedical impact. Chemical cytometry has emerged as an ultrasensitive single-cell platform with the flexibility to measure an array of cellular components, ranging from metabolite concentrations to enzyme activities. We briefly review the various chemical cytometry strategies, including recent advances in reporter design, probe and metabolite separation, and detection instrumentation. We also describe strategies for improving intracellular delivery, biochemical specificity, metabolic stability, and detection sensitivity of probes. Recent applications of these strategies to small molecules, lipids, proteins, and other analytes are discussed. Finally, we assess the current scope and limitations of chemical cytometry and discuss areas for future development to meet the needs of single-cell research.

Endothelial Progenitor Cells (EPC) Count by Multicolor Flow Cytometry in Healthy Individuals and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) Patients.

PubMed

Falay, Mesude; Aktas, Server

2016-11-01

The present study aimed to determine circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cell (EPC) counts by multicolor flow cytometry in healthy individuals and diabetic subjects by means of forming an analysis procedure using a combination of monoclonal antibodies (moAbs), which would correctly detect the circulating EPC count. The circulating EPC count was detected in 40 healthy individuals (20 Female, 20 Male; age range: 26 - 50 years) and 30 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) patients (15 Female, 15 Male; age range: 42 - 55) by multicolor flow cytometry (FCM) in a single-tube panel consisting of 5 CD45/CD31/CD34/CD309/ SYTO® and 16 monoclonal antibodies. Circulating EPC count was 11.33 (7.89 - 15.25) cells/µL in the healthy control group and 4.80 (0.70 - 10.85) cells/µL in the DM group. EPC counts were significantly lower in DM cases that developed coronary artery disease (53.3%) as compared to those that did not (p < 0.001). In the present study, we describe a method that identifies circulating EPC counts by multicolor flow cytometry in a single tube and determines the circulating EPC count in healthy individuals. This is the first study conducted on EPC count in Turkish population. We think that the EPC count found in the present study will be a guide for future studies.

Flow cytometric single cell analysis reveals heterogeneity between adipose depots

PubMed Central

Boumelhem, Badwi B.; Assinder, Stephen J.; Bell-Anderson, Kim S.; Fraser, Stuart T.

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT Understanding adipose tissue heterogeneity is hindered by the paucity of methods to analyze mature adipocytes at the single cell level. Here, we report a system for analyzing live adipocytes from different adipose depots in the adult mouse. Single cell suspensions of buoyant adipocytes were separated from the stromal vascular fraction and analyzed by flow cytometry. Compared to other lipophilic dyes, Nile Red uptake effectively distinguished adipocyte populations. Nile Red fluorescence increased with adipocyte size and granularity and could be combined with MitoTracker® Deep Red or fluorescent antibody labeling to further dissect adipose populations. Epicardial adipocytes exhibited the least mitochondrial membrane depolarization and highest fatty-acid translocase CD36 surface expression. In contrast, brown adipocytes showed low surface CD36 expression. Pregnancy resulted in reduced mitochondrial membrane depolarisation and increased CD36 surface expression in brown and epicardial adipocyte populations respectively. Our protocol revealed unreported heterogeneity between adipose depots and highlights the utility of flow cytometry for screening adipocytes at the single cell level. PMID:28453382

Non-linear optical flow cytometry using a scanned, Bessel beam light-sheet.

PubMed

Collier, Bradley B; Awasthi, Samir; Lieu, Deborah K; Chan, James W

2015-05-29

Modern flow cytometry instruments have become vital tools for high-throughput analysis of single cells. However, as issues with the cellular labeling techniques often used in flow cytometry have become more of a concern, the development of label-free modalities for cellular analysis is increasingly desired. Non-linear optical phenomena (NLO) are of growing interest for label-free analysis because of the ability to measure the intrinsic optical response of biomolecules found in cells. We demonstrate that a light-sheet consisting of a scanned Bessel beam is an optimal excitation geometry for efficiently generating NLO signals in a microfluidic environment. The balance of photon density and cross-sectional area provided by the light-sheet allowed significantly larger two-photon fluorescence intensities to be measured in a model polystyrene microparticle system compared to measurements made using other excitation focal geometries, including a relaxed Gaussian excitation beam often used in conventional flow cytometers.

Applications of flow cytometry to toxicological mycotoxin effects in cultured mammalian cells: a review.

PubMed

Juan-García, Ana; Manyes, Lara; Ruiz, María-José; Font, Guillermina

2013-06-01

This review gives an overview of flow cytometry applications to toxicological studies of several physiological target sites of mycotoxins on different mammalian cell lines. Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi that may be present in food, feed, air and water. The increasing presence of mycotoxins in crops, their wide distribution in the food chain, and their potential for toxicity demonstrate the need for further knowledge. Flow cytometry has become a valuable tool in mycotoxin studies in recent years for the rapid analysis of single cells in a mixture. In toxicology, the power of these methods lies in the possibility of determining a wide range of cell parameters, providing valuable information to elucidate cell growth and viability, metabolic activity, mitochondrial membrane potential and membrane integrity mechanisms. There are studies using flow cytometry technique on Alternaria, Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium mycotoxins including information about cell type, assay conditions and functional parameters. Most of the studies collected in the literature are on deoxynivalenol and zearalenone mycotoxins. Cell cycle analysis and apoptosis are the processes more widely investigated. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Fully Automated High-Throughput Flow Cytometry Screening System Enabling Phenotypic Drug Discovery.

PubMed

Joslin, John; Gilligan, James; Anderson, Paul; Garcia, Catherine; Sharif, Orzala; Hampton, Janice; Cohen, Steven; King, Miranda; Zhou, Bin; Jiang, Shumei; Trussell, Christopher; Dunn, Robert; Fathman, John W; Snead, Jennifer L; Boitano, Anthony E; Nguyen, Tommy; Conner, Michael; Cooke, Mike; Harris, Jennifer; Ainscow, Ed; Zhou, Yingyao; Shaw, Chris; Sipes, Dan; Mainquist, James; Lesley, Scott

2018-05-01

The goal of high-throughput screening is to enable screening of compound libraries in an automated manner to identify quality starting points for optimization. This often involves screening a large diversity of compounds in an assay that preserves a connection to the disease pathology. Phenotypic screening is a powerful tool for drug identification, in that assays can be run without prior understanding of the target and with primary cells that closely mimic the therapeutic setting. Advanced automation and high-content imaging have enabled many complex assays, but these are still relatively slow and low throughput. To address this limitation, we have developed an automated workflow that is dedicated to processing complex phenotypic assays for flow cytometry. The system can achieve a throughput of 50,000 wells per day, resulting in a fully automated platform that enables robust phenotypic drug discovery. Over the past 5 years, this screening system has been used for a variety of drug discovery programs, across many disease areas, with many molecules advancing quickly into preclinical development and into the clinic. This report will highlight a diversity of approaches that automated flow cytometry has enabled for phenotypic drug discovery.

High-Throughput Flow Cytometry Identifies Small-Molecule Inhibitors for Drug Repurposing in T-ALL.

PubMed

Perez, Dominique R; Nickl, Christian K; Waller, Anna; Delgado-Martin, Cristina; Woods, Travis; Sharma, Nitesh D; Hermiston, Michelle L; Loh, Mignon L; Hunger, Stephen P; Winter, Stuart S; Chigaev, Alexandre; Edwards, Bruce; Sklar, Larry A; Matlawska-Wasowska, Ksenia

2018-05-01

Kinase inhibitors have dramatically increased patient survival in a multitude of cancers, including hematological malignancies. However, kinase inhibitors have not yet been integrated into current clinical trials for patients with T-cell-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). In this study, we used a high-throughput flow cytometry (HTFC) approach to test a collection of small-molecule inhibitors, including 26 FDA-approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors in a panel of T-ALL cell lines and patient-derived xenografts. Because hypoxia is known to cause resistance to chemotherapy, we developed a synthetic niche that mimics the low oxygen levels found in leukemic bone marrow to evaluate the effects of hypoxia on the tested inhibitors. Drug sensitivity screening was performed using the Agilent BioCel automated liquid handling system integrated with the HyperCyt HT flow cytometry platform, and the uptake of propidium iodide was used as an indication of cell viability. The HTFC dose-response testing identified several compounds that were efficacious in both normal and hypoxic conditions. This study shows that some clinically approved kinase inhibitors target T-ALL in the hypoxic niche of the bone marrow.

FISH-Flow, a protocol for the concurrent detection of mRNA and protein in single cells using fluorescence in situ hybridization and flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Arrigucci, Riccardo; Bushkin, Yuri; Radford, Felix; Lakehal, Karim; Vir, Pooja; Pine, Richard; Martin, December; Sugarman, Jeffrey; Zhao, Yanlin; Yap, George S; Lardizabal, Alfred A; Tyagi, Sanjay; Gennaro, Maria Laura

2017-01-01

We describe a flow-cytometry-based protocol for intracellular mRNA measurements in nonadherent mammalian cells using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) probes. The method, which we call FISH-Flow, allows for high-throughput multiparametric measurements of gene expression, a task that was not feasible with earlier, microscopy-based approaches. The FISH-Flow protocol involves cell fixation, permeabilization and hybridization with a set of fluorescently labeled oligonucleotide probes. In this protocol, surface and intracellular protein markers can also be stained with fluorescently labeled antibodies for simultaneous protein and mRNA measurement. Moreover, a semiautomated, single-tube version of the protocol can be performed with a commercially available cell-wash device that reduces cell loss, operator time and interoperator variability. It takes ~30 h to perform this protocol. An example of FISH-Flow measurements of cytokine mRNA induction by ex vivo stimulation of primed T cells with specific antigens is described. PMID:28518171

Ultrafast Microfluidic Cellular Imaging by Optical Time-Stretch.

PubMed

Lau, Andy K S; Wong, Terence T W; Shum, Ho Cheung; Wong, Kenneth K Y; Tsia, Kevin K

2016-01-01

There is an unmet need in biomedicine for measuring a multitude of parameters of individual cells (i.e., high content) in a large population efficiently (i.e., high throughput). This is particularly driven by the emerging interest in bringing Big-Data analysis into this arena, encompassing pathology, drug discovery, rare cancer cell detection, emulsion microdroplet assays, to name a few. This momentum is particularly evident in recent advancements in flow cytometry. They include scaling of the number of measurable colors from the labeled cells and incorporation of imaging capability to access the morphological information of the cells. However, an unspoken predicament appears in the current technologies: higher content comes at the expense of lower throughput, and vice versa. For example, accessing additional spatial information of individual cells, imaging flow cytometers only achieve an imaging throughput ~1000 cells/s, orders of magnitude slower than the non-imaging flow cytometers. In this chapter, we introduce an entirely new imaging platform, namely optical time-stretch microscopy, for ultrahigh speed and high contrast label-free single-cell (in a ultrafast microfluidic flow up to 10 m/s) imaging and analysis with an ultra-fast imaging line-scan rate as high as tens of MHz. Based on this technique, not only morphological information of the individual cells can be obtained in an ultrafast manner, quantitative evaluation of cellular information (e.g., cell volume, mass, refractive index, stiffness, membrane tension) at nanometer scale based on the optical phase is also possible. The technology can also be integrated with conventional fluorescence measurements widely adopted in the non-imaging flow cytometers. Therefore, these two combinatorial and complementary measurement capabilities in long run is an attractive platform for addressing the pressing need for expanding the "parameter space" in high-throughput single-cell analysis. This chapter provides the general guidelines of constructing the optical system for time stretch imaging, fabrication and design of the microfluidic chip for ultrafast fluidic flow, as well as the image acquisition and processing.

The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus intraradices is haploid and has a small genome size in the lower limit of eukaryotes.

PubMed

Hijri, Mohamed; Sanders, Ian R

2004-02-01

The genome size, complexity, and ploidy of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) Glomus intraradices was determined using flow cytometry, reassociation kinetics, and genomic reconstruction. Nuclei of G. intraradices from in vitro culture, were analyzed by flow cytometry. The estimated average length of DNA per nucleus was 14.07+/-3.52 Mb. Reassociation kinetics on G. intraradices DNA indicated a haploid genome size of approximately 16.54 Mb, comprising 88.36% single copy DNA, 1.59% repetitive DNA, and 10.05% fold-back DNA. To determine ploidy, the DNA content per nucleus measured by flow cytometry was compared with the genome estimate of reassociation kinetics. G. intraradices was found to have a DNA index (DNA per nucleus per haploid genome size) of approximately 0.9, indicating that it is haploid. Genomic DNA of G. intraradices was also analyzed by genomic reconstruction using four genes (Malate synthase, RecA, Rad32, and Hsp88). Because we used flow cytometry and reassociation kinetics to reveal the genome size of G. intraradices and show that it is haploid, then a similar value for genome size should be found when using genomic reconstruction as long as the genes studied are single copy. The average genome size estimate was 15.74+/-1.69 Mb indicating that these four genes are single copy per haploid genome and per nucleus of G. intraradices. Our results show that the genome size of G. intraradices is much smaller than estimates of other AMF and that the unusually high within-spore genetic variation that is seen in this fungus cannot be due to high ploidy.

Multi-channel imaging cytometry with a single detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Locknar, Sarah; Barton, John; Entwistle, Mark; Carver, Gary; Johnson, Robert

2018-02-01

Multi-channel microscopy and multi-channel flow cytometry generate high bit data streams. Multiple channels (both spectral and spatial) are important in diagnosing diseased tissue and identifying individual cells. Omega Optical has developed techniques for mapping multiple channels into the time domain for detection by a single high gain, high bandwidth detector. This approach is based on pulsed laser excitation and a serial array of optical fibers coated with spectral reflectors such that up to 15 wavelength bins are sequentially detected by a single-element detector within 2.5 μs. Our multichannel microscopy system uses firmware running on dedicated DSP and FPGA chips to synchronize the laser, scanning mirrors, and sampling clock. The signals are digitized by an NI board into 14 bits at 60MHz - allowing for 232 by 174 pixel fields in up to 15 channels with 10x over sampling. Our multi-channel imaging cytometry design adds channels for forward scattering and back scattering to the fluorescence spectral channels. All channels are detected within the 2.5 μs - which is compatible with fast cytometry. Going forward, we plan to digitize at 16 bits with an A-toD chip attached to a custom board. Processing these digital signals in custom firmware would allow an on-board graphics processing unit to display imaging flow cytometry data over configurable scanning line lengths. The scatter channels can be used to trigger data buffering when a cell is present in the beam. This approach enables a low cost mechanically robust imaging cytometer.

High sensitivity detection and sorting of infectious human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) particles by flow virometry

PubMed Central

Bonar, Micha M.; Tilton, John C.

2017-01-01

Detection of viruses by flow cytometry is complicated by their small size. Here, we characterized the ability of a standard (FACSAria II) and a sub-micron flow cytometer (A50 Micro) to resolve HIV-1 viruses. The A50 was superior at resolving small particles but did not reliably distinguish HIV-1, extracellular vesicles, and laser noise by light scatter properties alone. However, single fluorescent HIV-1 particles could readily be detected by both cytometers. Fluorescent particles were sorted and retained infectivity, permitting further exploration of the functional consequences of HIV-1 heterogeneity. Finally, flow cytometry had a limit of detection of 80 viruses/ml, nearly equal to PCR assays. These studies demonstrate the power of flow cytometry to detect and sort viral particles and provide a critical toolkit to validate methods to label wild-type HIV-1; quantitatively assess integrity and aggregation of viruses and virus-based therapeutics; and efficiently screen drugs inhibiting viral assembly and release. PMID:28235684

High sensitivity detection and sorting of infectious human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) particles by flow virometry.

PubMed

Bonar, Michał M; Tilton, John C

2017-05-01

Detection of viruses by flow cytometry is complicated by their small size. Here, we characterized the ability of a standard (FACSAria II) and a sub-micron flow cytometer (A50 Micro) to resolve HIV-1 viruses. The A50 was superior at resolving small particles but did not reliably distinguish HIV-1, extracellular vesicles, and laser noise by light scatter properties alone. However, single fluorescent HIV-1 particles could readily be detected by both cytometers. Fluorescent particles were sorted and retained infectivity, permitting further exploration of the functional consequences of HIV-1 heterogeneity. Finally, flow cytometry had a limit of detection of 80 viruses/ml, nearly equal to PCR assays. These studies demonstrate the power of flow cytometry to detect and sort viral particles and provide a critical toolkit to validate methods to label wild-type HIV-1; quantitatively assess integrity and aggregation of viruses and virus-based therapeutics; and efficiently screen drugs inhibiting viral assembly and release. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Modifications of haematology analyzers to improve cell counting and leukocyte differentiating in cerebrospinal fluid controls of the Joint German Society for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine.

PubMed

Kleine, Tilmann O; Nebe, C Thomas; Löwer, Christa; Lehmitz, Reinhard; Kruse, Rolf; Geilenkeuser, Wolf-Jochen; Dorn-Beineke, Alexandra

2009-08-01

Flow cytometry (FCM) is used with haematology analyzers (HAs) to count cells and differentiate leukocytes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). To evaluate the FCM techniques of HAs, 10 external DGKL trials with CSF controls were carried out in 2004 to 2008. Eight single platform HAs with and without CSF equipment were evaluated with living blood leukocytes and erythrocytes in CSF like DGKL controls: Coulter (LH750,755), Abbott CD3200, CD3500, CD3700, CD4000, Sapphire, ADVIA 120(R) CSF assay, and Sysmex XE-2100(R). Results were compared with visual counting of native cells in Fuchs-Rosenthal chamber, unstained, and absolute values of leukocyte differentiation, assayed by dual platform analysis with immune-FCM (FACSCalibur, CD45, CD14) and the chamber counts. Reference values X were compared with HA values Y by statistical evaluation with Passing/Bablock (P/B) linear regression analysis to reveal conformity of both methods. The HAs, studied, produced no valid results with DGKL CSF controls, because P/B regression revealed no conformity with the reference values due to:-blank problems with impedance analysis,-leukocyte loss with preanalytical erythrocyte lysis procedures, especially of monocytes,-inaccurate results with ADVIA cell sphering and cell differentiation with algorithms and enzyme activities (e.g., peroxidase). HA techniques have to be improved, e.g., using no erythrocyte lysis and CSF adequate techniques, to examine CSF samples precise and accurate. Copyright 2009 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

B-ALL minimal residual disease flow cytometry: an application of a novel method for optimization of a single-tube model.

PubMed

Shaver, Aaron C; Greig, Bruce W; Mosse, Claudio A; Seegmiller, Adam C

2015-05-01

Optimizing a clinical flow cytometry panel can be a subjective process dependent on experience. We develop a quantitative method to make this process more rigorous and apply it to B lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (B-ALL) minimal residual disease (MRD) testing. We retrospectively analyzed our existing three-tube, seven-color B-ALL MRD panel and used our novel method to develop an optimized one-tube, eight-color panel, which was tested prospectively. The optimized one-tube, eight-color panel resulted in greater efficiency of time and resources with no loss in diagnostic power. Constructing a flow cytometry panel using a rigorous, objective, quantitative method permits optimization and avoids problems of interdependence and redundancy in a large, multiantigen panel. Copyright© by the American Society for Clinical Pathology.

Photoacoustic-fluorescence in vitro flow cytometry for quantification of absorption, scattering and fluorescence properties of the cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nedosekin, D. A.; Sarimollaoglu, M.; Foster, S.; Galanzha, E. I.; Zharov, V. P.

2013-03-01

Fluorescence flow cytometry is a well-established analytical tool that provides quantification of multiple biological parameters of cells at molecular levels, including their functional states, morphology, composition, proliferation, and protein expression. However, only the fluorescence and scattering parameters of the cells or labels are available for detection. Cell pigmentation, presence of non-fluorescent dyes or nanoparticles cannot be reliably quantified. Herewith, we present a novel photoacoustic (PA) flow cytometry design for simple integration of absorbance measurements into schematics of conventional in vitro flow cytometers. The integrated system allow simultaneous measurements of light absorbance, scattering and of multicolor fluorescence from single cells in the flow at rates up to 2 m/s. We compared various combinations of excitation laser sources for multicolor detection, including simultaneous excitation of PA and fluorescence using a single 500 kHz pulsed nanosecond laser. Multichannel detection scheme allows simultaneous detection of up to 8 labels, including 4 fluorescent tags and 4 PA colors. In vitro PA-fluorescence flow cytometer was used for studies of nanoparticles uptake and for the analysis of cell line pigmentation, including genetically encoded melanin expression in breast cancer cell line. We demonstrate that this system can be used for direct nanotoxicity studies with simultaneous quantification of nanoparticles content and assessment of cell viability using a conventional fluorescent apoptosis assays.

Flow cytometry, morphometry and histopathology as biomarkers of benzo[a]pyrene exposure in brown bullheads (ameiurus nebulosus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Grady, Andrew W.; McLaughlin, Ronald M.; Caldwell, Charles W.; Schmitt, Christopher J.; Stalling, David L.

1992-01-01

Brown bullheads were given a single intraperitoneal dose of 0, 5, 25 or 125 mg kg−1 benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and evaluated over 18 months. Flow cytometric analyses of hepatocyte DNA content indicated an increase in DNA synthesis in BaP-exposed fish prior to day 14 post-exposure. Thereafter, all flow cytometric variables returned to initial levels. Histopathological evaluation of livers from fish sampled at 18 months revealed significant differences among treatments in the amount of hepatic macrophage ceroid pigmentation and basophilic staining intensity. No neoplasms or changes in blood cell DNA content were detected. Significant morphometric variations existed among fish, but differences between sexes overshadowed differences attributable to dose. Flow cytometry yielded no evidence of long-term DNA alterations from a single exposure to BaP; however, the differences detected by DNA analysis shortly after the toxic event suggest that flow cytometric cell cycle analysis may be useful for documenting continuing exposures.

Flow karyotyping and sorting of human chromosomes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gray, J.W.; Lucas, J.; Peters, D.

1986-07-16

Flow cytometry and sorting are becoming increasingly useful as tools for chromosome classfication and for the detection of numerical and structural chromosome aberrations. Chromosomes of a single type can be purified with these tools to facilitate gene mapping or production of chromosome specific recombinant DNA libraries. For analysis of chromosomes with flow cytometry, the chromosomes are extracted from mitotic cells, stained with one or more fluorescent dyes and classified one-by-one according to their dye content(s). Thus, the flow approach is fundamentally different than conventional karyotyping where chromosomes are classified within the context of a metaphase spread. Flow sorting allows purificationmore » of chromosomes that can be distinguished flow cytometrically. The authors describe the basic principles of flow cytometric chromosome classification i.e. flow karyotyping, and chromosome sorting and describe several applications. 30 refs., 8 figs.« less

Microfluidic molecular assay platform for the detection of miRNAs, mRNAs, proteins, and post-translational modifications at single-cell resolution

DOE PAGES

Wu, Meiye; Singh, Anup K.

2014-07-15

In this study, cell signaling is a dynamic and complex process. A typical signaling pathway may begin with activation of cell surface receptors, leading to activation kinase cascade that culminates in induction of mRNA and non-coding miRNA production in the nucleus, followed by modulation of mRNA expression by miRNAs in the cytosol, and end with production of proteins in response to the signaling pathway. Signaling pathways involve proteins, miRNA, and mRNAs, along with various forms of transient post-translational modifications, and detecting each type of signaling molecule requires categorically different sample preparation methods such as Western blotting for proteins, PCR formore » nucleic acids, and flow cytometry for post-translational modifications. Since we know that cells in populations behave heterogeneously1, especially in the cases of stem cells, cancer, and hematopoiesis, there is need for a new technology that provides capability to detect and quantify multiple categories of signaling molecules in intact single cells to provide a comprehensive view of the cell’s physiological state. In this technical brief, we describe our microfluidic platform with a portfolio of customized molecular assays that can detect nucleic acids, proteins, and post-translational modifications in single intact cells with >95% reduction in reagent requirement in under 8 hours.« less

Microfluidic molecular assay platform for the detection of miRNAs, mRNAs, proteins, and posttranslational modifications at single-cell resolution.

PubMed

Wu, Meiye; Singh, Anup K

2014-12-01

Cell signaling is a dynamic and complex process. A typical signaling pathway may begin with activation of cell surface receptors, leading to activation of a kinase cascade that culminates in induction of messenger RNA (mRNA) and noncoding microRNA (miRNA) production in the nucleus, followed by modulation of mRNA expression by miRNAs in the cytosol, and end with production of proteins in response to the signaling pathway. Signaling pathways involve proteins, miRNA, and mRNAs, along with various forms of transient posttranslational modifications, and detecting each type of signaling molecule requires categorically different sample preparation methods such as Western blotting for proteins, PCR for nucleic acids, and flow cytometry for posttranslational modifications. Since we know that cells in populations behave heterogeneously,(1) especially in the cases of stem cells, cancer, and hematopoiesis, there is need for a new technology that provides capability to detect and quantify multiple categories of signaling molecules in intact single cells to provide a comprehensive view of the cell's physiological state. In this Technology Brief, we describe our automated microfluidic platform with a portfolio of customized molecular assays that can detect nucleic acids, proteins, and posttranslational modifications in single intact cells with >95% reduction in reagent requirement in under 8 h. © 2014 Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening.

High-speed quantitative phase imaging using time-stretch spectral shearing contrast (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bosworth, Bryan; Foster, Mark A.

2017-02-01

Photonic time-stretch microscopy (TSM) provides an ideal platform for high-throughput imaging flow cytometry, affording extremely high shutter speeds and frame rates with high sensitivity. In order to resolve weakly scattering cells in biofluid and solve the issue of signal-to-noise in cell labeling specificity of biomarkers in imaging flow cytometry, several quantitative phase (QP) techniques have recently been adapted to TSM. However, these techniques have relied primarily on sensitive free-space optical configurations to generate full electric field measurements. The present work draws from the field of ultrashort pulse characterization to leverage the coherence of the ultrashort optical pulses integral to all TSM systems in order to do self-referenced single-shot quantitative phase imaging in a TSM system. Self-referencing is achieved via spectral shearing interferometry in an exceptionally stable and straightforward Sagnac loop incorporating an electro-optic phase modulator and polarization-maintaining fiber that produce sheared and unsheared copies of the pulse train with an inter-pulse delay determined by polarization mode dispersion. The spectral interferogram then yields a squared amplitude and a phase derivative image that can be integrated for conventional phase. We apply this spectral shearing contrast microscope to acquire QP images on a high-speed flow microscope at 90-MHz line rates with <400 pixels per line. We also consider the extension of this technique to compressed sensing (CS) acquisition by intensity modulating the interference spectra with pseudorandom binary waveforms to reconstruct the images from a highly sub-Nyquist number of random inner products, providing a path to even higher operating rates and reduced data storage requirements.

Monitoring circulating prostate tumor cells after tumor resection by in vivo flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Nan; Zhu, Xi; Xie, Chengying; Wei, Dan; Yang, Zhangru; Suo, Yuanzhen; Wei, Xunbin

2018-02-01

Prostate cancer has already become the biggest threat among all cancer types for male people and many people died because of its bone metastases. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be used as early metastasis marker so that the detection of CTCs in blood is meaningful for early diagnosis and treatment. However, the relationship between these therapies and metastasis has not been fully clarified yet. Hence, we built PC3 subcutaneous tumor model and developed in vivo flow cytometer (IVFC) platform to record the dynamics of CTC before and after tumor resection. We found out that tumor resection can reduce CTC quantities instantaneously while having a good control of metastasis. CTC re-occurred 7 days after surgery, which might be correlated with early disseminated and deposited tumors. In conclusion, in vivo flow cytometry (IVFC) is capable of detecting CTC dynamics in prostate subcutaneous tumor model and this method could facilitate further research about relationship between other cancer therapies and circulating tumor cells.

In vivo flow cytometry of circulating clots using negative photothermal and photoacoustic contrasts.

PubMed

Galanzha, Ekaterina I; Sarimollaoglu, Mustafa; Nedosekin, Dmitry A; Keyrouz, Salah G; Mehta, Jawahar L; Zharov, Vladimir P

2011-10-01

Conventional photothermal (PT) and photoacousic (PA) imaging, spectroscopy, and cytometry are preferentially based on positive PT/PA effects, when signals are above background. Here, we introduce PT/PA technique based on detection of negative signals below background. Among various new applications, we propose label-free in vivo flow cytometry of circulating clots. No method has been developed for the early detection of clots of different compositions as a source of thromboembolism including ischemia at strokes and myocardial infarction. When a low-absorbing, platelet-rich clot passes a laser-irradiated vessel volume, a transient decrease in local absorption results in an ultrasharp negative PA hole in blood background. Using this phenomenon alone or in combination with positive contrasts, we demonstrated identification of white, red, and mixed clots on a mouse model of myocardial infarction and human blood. The concentration and size of clots were measured with threshold down to few clots in the entire circulation with size as low as 20 μm. This multiparameter diagnostic platform using portable personal high-speed flow cytometer with negative dynamic contrast mode has potential to real-time defining risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and for prognosis and prevention of stroke or use clot count as a marker of therapy efficacy. Possibility for label-free detection of platelets, leukocytes, tumor cells or targeting themby negative PA probes (e.g., nonabsorbing beads or bubbles) is also highlighted. Copyright © 2011 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Clinical cytometry and progress in HLA antibody detection.

PubMed

Bray, Robert A; Tarsitani, Christine; Gebel, Howard M; Lee, Jar-How

2011-01-01

For most solid organ and selected stem cell transplants, antibodies against mismatched HLA antigens can lead to early and late graft failure. In recognition of the clinical significance of these antibodies, HLA antibody identification is one of the most critical functions of histocompatibility laboratories. Early methods employed cumbersome and insensitive complement-dependent cytotoxicity assays with a visual read-out. A little over 20 years ago flow cytometry entered the realm of antibody detection with the introduction of the flow cytometric crossmatch. Cytometry's increased sensitivity and objectivity quickly earned it popularity as a preferred crossmatch method especially for sensitized recipients. Although a sensitive method, the flow crossmatch was criticized as being "too sensitive" as false positive reactions were a know drawback. In part, the shortcomings of the flow crossmatch were due to the lack of corresponding sensitive and specific HLA antibody screening assays. However, in the mid 1990s, solid phase assays, capable of utilizing standard flow cytometers, were developed. These assays used microparticles coated with purified HLA molecules. Hence, the era of solid-phase, microparticle technology for HLA antibody detection was born permitting the sensitive and specific detection of HLA antibody. It was now possible to provide better correlation between HLA antibody detection and the flow cytometric crossmatch. This flow-based technology was soon followed by adaptation to the Luminex platform permitting a mutltiplexed approach for the identification and characterization of HLA antibodies. It is hoped that these technologies will ultimately lead to the identification of parameters that best correlate with and/or predict transplant outcomes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Expanding the potential of standard flow cytometry by extracting fluorescence lifetimes from cytometric pulse shifts

PubMed Central

Cao, Ruofan; Naivar, Mark A; Wilder, Mark; Houston, Jessica P

2014-01-01

Fluorescence lifetime measurements provide information about the fluorescence relaxation, or intensity decay, of organic fluorophores, fluorescent proteins, and other inorganic molecules that fluoresce. The fluorescence lifetime is emerging in flow cytometry and is helpful in a variety of multiparametric, single cell measurements because it is not impacted by nonlinearity that can occur with fluorescence intensity measurements. Yet time-resolved cytometry systems rely on major hardware modifications making the methodology difficult to reproduce. The motivation of this work is, by taking advantage of the dynamic nature of flow cytometry sample detection and applying digital signal processing methods, to measure fluorescence lifetimes using an unmodified flow cytometer. We collect a new lifetime-dependent parameter, referred to herein as the fluorescence-pulse-delay (FPD), and prove it is a valid representation of the average fluorescence lifetime. To verify we generated cytometric pulses in simulation, with light emitting diode (LED) pulsation, and with true fluorescence measurements of cells and microspheres. Each pulse is digitized and used in algorithms to extract an average fluorescence lifetime inherent in the signal. A range of fluorescence lifetimes is measurable with this approach including standard organic fluorophore lifetimes (∼1 to 22 ns) as well as small, simulated shifts (0.1 ns) under standard conditions (reported herein). This contribution demonstrates how digital data acquisition and signal processing can reveal time-dependent information foreshadowing the exploitation of full waveform analysis for quantification of similar photo-physical events within single cells. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:25274073

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Liu, Yanli; Barua, Dipak; Liu, Peng

Heterogeneity in responses of cells to a stimulus, such as a pathogen or allergen, can potentially play an important role in deciding the fate of the responding cell population and the overall systemic response. Measuring heterogeneous responses requires tools capable of interrogating individual cells. Cell signaling studies commonly do not have single-cell resolution because of the limitations of techniques used such as Westerns, ELISAs, mass spectrometry, and DNA microarrays. Microfluidics devices are increasingly being used to overcome these limitations. In this paper, we report on a microfluidic platform for cell signaling analysis that combines two orthogonal single-cell measurement technologies: on-chipmore » flow cytometry and optical imaging. The device seamlessly integrates cell culture, stimulation, and preparation with downstream measurements permitting hands-free, automated analysis to minimize experimental variability. The platform was used to interrogate IgE receptor (FcεRI) signaling, which is responsible for triggering allergic reactions, in RBL-2H3 cells. Following on-chip crosslinking of IgE-FcεRI complexes by multivalent antigen, we monitored signaling events including protein phosphorylation, calcium mobilization and the release of inflammatory mediators. The results demonstrate the ability of our platform to produce quantitative measurements on a cell-by-cell basis from just a few hundred cells. Finally, model-based analysis of the Syk phosphorylation data suggests that heterogeneity in Syk phosphorylation can be attributed to protein copy number variations, with the level of Syk phosphorylation being particularly sensitive to the copy number of Lyn.« less

Genome survey sequencing of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii.

PubMed

Shi, Linlin; Yi, Shaokui; Li, Yanhe

2018-06-21

Red swamp crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, presently is an important aquatic commercial species in China. The crayfish is a hot area of research focus, and its genetic improvement is quite urgent for the crayfish aquaculture in China. However, the knowledge of its genomic landscape is limited. In this study, a survey of P. clarkii genome was investigated based on Illumina's Solexa sequencing platform. Meanwhile, its genome size was estimated using flow cytometry. Interestingly, the genome size estimated is about 8.50 Gb by flow cytometry and 1.86 Gb with genome survey sequencing. Based on the assembled genome sequences, total of 136,962 genes and 152,268 exons were predicted, and the predicted genes ranged from 150 to 12,807 bp in length. The survey sequences could help accelerate the progress of gene discovery involved in genetic diversity and evolutionary analysis, even though it could not successfully applied for estimation of P. clarkii genome size.

CytometryML: a data standard which has been designed to interface with other standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.

2007-02-01

Because of the differences in the requirements, needs, and past histories including existing standards of the creating organizations, a single encompassing cytology-pathology standard will not, in the near future, replace the multiple existing or under development standards. Except for DICOM and FCS, these standardization efforts are all based on XML. CytometryML is a collection of XML schemas, which are based on the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and Flow Cytometry Standard (FCS) datatypes. The CytometryML schemas contain attributes that link them to the DICOM standard and FCS. Interoperability with DICOM has been facilitated by, wherever reasonable, limiting the difference between CytometryML and the previous standards to syntax. In order to permit the Resource Description Framework, RDF, to reference the CytometryML datatypes, id attributes have been added to many CytometryML elements. The Laboratory Digital Imaging Project (LDIP) Data Exchange Specification and the Flowcyt standards development effort employ RDF syntax. Documentation from DICOM has been reused in CytometryML. The unity of analytical cytology was demonstrated by deriving a microscope type and a flow cytometer type from a generic cytometry instrument type. The feasibility of incorporating the Flowcyt gating schemas into CytometryML has been demonstrated. CytometryML is being extended to include many of the new DICOM Working Group 26 datatypes, which describe patients, specimens, and analytes. In situations where multiple standards are being created, interoperability can be facilitated by employing datatypes based on a common set of semantics and building in links to standards that employ different syntax.

Development of a bead-based multiplexed assay for simultaneous quantification of five bovine cytokines by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Valérie; Baudier, Jean Baptiste; Chantal, Isabelle

2017-09-01

Quantifying cytokines is extremely important in studies of host-pathogen interactions. Multiplex assays are commercially available but only for human and mouse cytokines. Here a method for the simultaneous quantification of five important bovine cytokines IFNγ, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, and TNFα in cell culture supernatants, using flow cytometry was reported. Functional beads from BD Biosciences expressing specific APC intensity were used. Commercially available antibodies against bovine cytokines were covalently coupled to beads as capture antibodies. Fixed recombinant cytokines were revealed with a second monoclonal antibody coupled with biotin, then revealed with streptavidin-PE. This complex was analyzed using a standard flow cytometer. Experiments were performed to check no cross reactions had occurred. The limits of detection ranged between 0.08 and 0.4 ng/ml depending on the cytokine, and the linearity between the lower and higher limits was remarkable (R 2  > 99.8%). Finally, native cytokines from cell culture supernatants were tested. Results were compared using the standard ELISA test and showed that concentrations of native cytokine in cell culture supernatants were comparable with the two methods, with a wider dynamic range using beads and flow cytometry than with ELISA assays. Bovine IFNγ, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, and TNFα in culture supernatants can be now simultaneously detected in a single assay, using a standard flow cytometer for both basic and high-throughput analyses. © 2017 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. © 2017 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Single-Molecule Flow Platform for the Quantification of Biomolecules Attached to Single Nanoparticles.

PubMed

Jung, Seung-Ryoung; Han, Rui; Sun, Wei; Jiang, Yifei; Fujimoto, Bryant S; Yu, Jiangbo; Kuo, Chun-Ting; Rong, Yu; Zhou, Xing-Hua; Chiu, Daniel T

2018-05-15

We describe here a flow platform for quantifying the number of biomolecules on individual fluorescent nanoparticles. The platform combines line-confocal fluorescence detection with near nanoscale channels (1-2 μm in width and height) to achieve high single-molecule detection sensitivity and throughput. The number of biomolecules present on each nanoparticle was determined by deconvolving the fluorescence intensity distribution of single-nanoparticle-biomolecule complexes with the intensity distribution of single biomolecules. We demonstrate this approach by quantifying the number of streptavidins on individual semiconducting polymer dots (Pdots); streptavidin was rendered fluorescent using biotin-Alexa647. This flow platform has high-throughput (hundreds to thousands of nanoparticles detected per second) and requires minute amounts of sample (∼5 μL at a dilute concentration of 10 pM). This measurement method is an additional tool for characterizing synthetic or biological nanoparticles.

Development of a novel cell sorting method that samples population diversity in flow cytometry.

PubMed

Osborne, Geoffrey W; Andersen, Stacey B; Battye, Francis L

2015-11-01

Flow cytometry based electrostatic cell sorting is an important tool in the separation of cell populations. Existing instruments can sort single cells into multi-well collection plates, and keep track of cell of origin and sorted well location. However currently single sorted cell results reflect the population distribution and fail to capture the population diversity. Software was designed that implements a novel sorting approach, "Slice and Dice Sorting," that links a graphical representation of a multi-well plate to logic that ensures that single cells are sampled and sorted from all areas defined by the sort region/s. Therefore the diversity of the total population is captured, and the more frequently occurring or rarer cell types are all sampled. The sorting approach was tested computationally, and using functional cell based assays. Computationally we demonstrate that conventional single cell sorting can sample as little as 50% of the population diversity dependant on the population distribution, and that Slice and Dice sorting samples much more of the variety present within a cell population. We then show by sorting single cells into wells using the Slice and Dice sorting method that there are cells sorted using this method that would be either rarely sorted, or not sorted at all using conventional single cell sorting approaches. The present study demonstrates a novel single cell sorting method that samples much more of the population diversity than current methods. It has implications in clonal selection, stem cell sorting, single cell sequencing and any areas where population heterogeneity is of importance. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Flow cytometry for receptor analysis from ex-vivo brain tissue in adult rat.

PubMed

Benoit, A; Guillamin, M; Aitken, P; Smith, P F; Philoxene, B; Sola, B; Poulain, L; Coquerel, A; Besnard, S

2018-07-01

Flow cytometry allows single-cell analysis of peripheral biological samples and is useful in many fields of research and clinical applications, mainly in hematology, immunology, and oncology. In the neurosciences, the flow cytometry separation method was first applied to stem cell extraction from healthy or cerebral tumour tissue and was more recently tested in order to phenotype brain cells, hippocampal neurogenesis, and to detect prion proteins. However, it remains sparsely applied in quantifying membrane receptors in relation to synaptic plasticity. We aimed to optimize a flow cytometric procedure for receptor quantification in neurons and non-neurons. A neural dissociation process, myelin separation, fixation, and membrane permeability procedures were optimized to maximize cell survival and analysis in hippocampal tissue obtained from adult rodents. We then aimed to quantify membrane muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) in rats with and without bilateral vestibular loss (BVL). mAChR's were quantified for neuronal and non-neuronal cells in the hippocampus and striatum following BVL. At day 30 but not at day 7 following BVL, there was a significant increase (P ≤ 0.05) in the percentage of neurons expressing M 2/4 mAChRs in both the hippocampus and the striatum. Here, we showed that flow cytometry appears to be a reliable method of membrane receptor quantification in ex-vivo brain tissue. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CytoSPADE: high-performance analysis and visualization of high-dimensional cytometry data

PubMed Central

Linderman, Michael D.; Simonds, Erin F.; Qiu, Peng; Bruggner, Robert V.; Sheode, Ketaki; Meng, Teresa H.; Plevritis, Sylvia K.; Nolan, Garry P.

2012-01-01

Motivation: Recent advances in flow cytometry enable simultaneous single-cell measurement of 30+ surface and intracellular proteins. CytoSPADE is a high-performance implementation of an interface for the Spanning-tree Progression Analysis of Density-normalized Events algorithm for tree-based analysis and visualization of this high-dimensional cytometry data. Availability: Source code and binaries are freely available at http://cytospade.org and via Bioconductor version 2.10 onwards for Linux, OSX and Windows. CytoSPADE is implemented in R, C++ and Java. Contact: michael.linderman@mssm.edu Supplementary Information: Additional documentation available at http://cytospade.org. PMID:22782546

Single-Particle Discrimination of Retroviruses from Extracellular Vesicles by Nanoscale Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Tang, Vera A; Renner, Tyler M; Fritzsche, Anna K; Burger, Dylan; Langlois, Marc-André

2017-12-19

Retroviruses and small EVs overlap in size, buoyant densities, refractive indices and share many cell-derived surface markers making them virtually indistinguishable by standard biochemical methods. This poses a significant challenge when purifying retroviruses for downstream analyses or for phenotypic characterization studies of markers on individual virions given that EVs are a major contaminant of retroviral preparations. Nanoscale flow cytometry (NFC), also called flow virometry, is an adaptation of flow cytometry technology for the analysis of individual nanoparticles such as extracellular vesicles (EVs) and retroviruses. In this study we systematically optimized NFC parameters for the detection of retroviral particles in the range of 115-130 nm, including viral production, sample labeling, laser power and voltage settings. By using the retroviral envelope glycoprotein as a selection marker, and evaluating a number of fluorescent dyes and labeling methods, we demonstrate that it is possible to confidently distinguish retroviruses from small EVs by NFC. Our findings make it now possible to individually phenotype genetically modified retroviral particles that express a fluorescent envelope glycoprotein without removing EV contaminants from the sample.

A general method for bead-enhanced quantitation by flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Montes, Martin; Jaensson, Elin A.; Orozco, Aaron F.; Lewis, Dorothy E.; Corry, David B.

2009-01-01

Flow cytometry provides accurate relative cellular quantitation (percent abundance) of cells from diverse samples, but technical limitations of most flow cytometers preclude accurate absolute quantitation. Several quantitation standards are now commercially available which, when added to samples, permit absolute quantitation of CD4+ T cells. However, these reagents are limited by their cost, technical complexity, requirement for additional software and/or limited applicability. Moreover, few studies have validated the use of such reagents in complex biological samples, especially for quantitation of non-T cells. Here we show that addition to samples of known quantities of polystyrene fluorescence standardization beads permits accurate quantitation of CD4+ T cells from complex cell samples. This procedure, here termed single bead-enhanced cytofluorimetry (SBEC), was equally capable of enumerating eosinophils as well as subcellular fragments of apoptotic cells, moieties with very different optical and fluorescent characteristics. Relative to other proprietary products, SBEC is simple, inexpensive and requires no special software, suggesting that the method is suitable for the routine quantitation of most cells and other particles by flow cytometry. PMID:17067632

Principles and applications of flow cytometry and cell sorting in companion animal medicine.

PubMed

Wilkerson, Melinda J

2012-01-01

Flow cytometry measures multiple characteristic of single cells using light scatter properties and fluorescence properties of fluorescent probes with specificity to cellular constituents. The use of flow cytometry in the veterinary clinical laboratory has become more routine in veterinary diagnostic laboratories and institutions (http://www.vet.k-state.edu/depts/dmp/service/immunology/index.htm), and reference laboratories. The most common applications in small animal medicine includes quantitation of erythrocytes and leukocytes in automated hematology instruments, detection of antibodies to erythrocytes and platelets in cases of immune-mediated diseases, immunophenotyping of leukocytes and lymphocytes in immunodeficiency syndromes, or leukemias and lymphomas. DNA content analysis to identify aneuploidy or replicating cells in tumor preparations has not gained routine acceptance because of the variability of prognostic results. Other applications including cell sorting and multiplexing using microspheres are potential assays of the future once they become validated and the instrumentation footprint becomes more and more compact, less expensive, and easier to use.

Recombinant scFv antibodies against infectious pancreatic necrosis virus isolated by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Xu, Li-Ming; Zhao, Jing-Zhuang; Liu, Miao; Cao, Yong-Sheng; Yin, Jia-Sheng; Liu, Hong-Bai; Lu, Tongyan

2016-11-01

Infectious pancreatic necrosis is a significant disease of farmed salmonids in China. In this study, a single chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody library derived from rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and viral protein VP2 of a Chinese infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) isolate ChRtm213 were co-expressed by a bacterial display technology. The library was subjected to three rounds of screening by flow cytometry (FCM) to select IPNV specific antibodies. Six antibody clones with different mean fluorescence intensities (MFI) were obtained by picking colonies at random. The antibody clones were expressed and purified. The purified IPNV-specific scFv antibodies were used successfully in Western blotting, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and an immunofluorescence antibody test (IFAT). This method provides a high throughput means to screen an antibody library by flow cytometry, and isolate a panel of antibody that can be used as potential reagents for the detection and study of IPNV that are prevalent in China. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Label-free cell-cycle analysis by high-throughput quantitative phase time-stretch imaging flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mok, Aaron T. Y.; Lee, Kelvin C. M.; Wong, Kenneth K. Y.; Tsia, Kevin K.

2018-02-01

Biophysical properties of cells could complement and correlate biochemical markers to characterize a multitude of cellular states. Changes in cell size, dry mass and subcellular morphology, for instance, are relevant to cell-cycle progression which is prevalently evaluated by DNA-targeted fluorescence measurements. Quantitative-phase microscopy (QPM) is among the effective biophysical phenotyping tools that can quantify cell sizes and sub-cellular dry mass density distribution of single cells at high spatial resolution. However, limited camera frame rate and thus imaging throughput makes QPM incompatible with high-throughput flow cytometry - a gold standard in multiparametric cell-based assay. Here we present a high-throughput approach for label-free analysis of cell cycle based on quantitative-phase time-stretch imaging flow cytometry at a throughput of > 10,000 cells/s. Our time-stretch QPM system enables sub-cellular resolution even at high speed, allowing us to extract a multitude (at least 24) of single-cell biophysical phenotypes (from both amplitude and phase images). Those phenotypes can be combined to track cell-cycle progression based on a t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) algorithm. Using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) discriminant analysis, cell-cycle phases can also be predicted label-free with high accuracy at >90% in G1 and G2 phase, and >80% in S phase. We anticipate that high throughput label-free cell cycle characterization could open new approaches for large-scale single-cell analysis, bringing new mechanistic insights into complex biological processes including diseases pathogenesis.

Validation of Flow Cytometry and Magnetic Bead-Based Methods to Enrich CNS Single Cell Suspensions for Quiescent Microglia.

PubMed

Volden, T A; Reyelts, C D; Hoke, T A; Arikkath, J; Bonasera, S J

2015-12-01

Microglia are resident mononuclear phagocytes within the CNS parenchyma that intimately interact with neurons and astrocytes to remodel synapses and extracellular matrix. We briefly review studies elucidating the molecular pathways that underlie microglial surveillance, activation, chemotaxis, and phagocytosis; we additionally place these studies in a clinical context. We describe and validate an inexpensive and simple approach to obtain enriched single cell suspensions of quiescent parenchymal and perivascular microglia from the mouse cerebellum and hypothalamus. Following preparation of regional CNS single cell suspensions, we remove myelin debris, and then perform two serial enrichment steps for cells expressing surface CD11b. Myelin depletion and CD11b enrichment are both accomplished using antigen-specific magnetic beads in an automated cell separation system. Flow cytometry of the resultant suspensions shows a significant enrichment for CD11b(+)/CD45(+) cells (perivascular microglia) and CD11b(+)/CD45(-) cells (parenchymal microglia) compared to starting suspensions. Of note, cells from these enriched suspensions minimally express Aif1 (aka Iba1), suggesting that the enrichment process does not evoke significant microglial activation. However, these cells readily respond to a functional challenge (LPS) with significant changes in the expression of molecules specifically associated with microglia. We conclude that methods employing a combination of magnetic-bead based sorting and flow cytometry produce suspensions highly enriched for microglia that are appropriate for a variety of molecular and cellular assays.

Study of low speed flow cytometry for diffraction imaging with different chamber and nozzle designs.

PubMed

Sa, Yu; Feng, Yuanming; Jacobs, Kenneth M; Yang, Jun; Pan, Ran; Gkigkitzis, Ioannis; Lu, Jun Q; Hu, Xin-Hua

2013-11-01

Achieving effective hydrodynamic focusing and flow stability at low speed presents a challenging design task in flow cytometry for studying phenomena such as cell adhesion and diffraction imaging of cells with low-cost cameras. We have developed different designs of flow chamber and sheath nozzle to accomplish the above goal. A 3D computational model of the chambers has been established to simulate the fluid dynamics in different chamber designs and measurements have been performed to determine the velocity and size distributions of the core fluid from the nozzle. Comparison of the simulation data with experimental results shows good agreement. With the computational model significant insights were gained for optimization of the chamber design and improvement of the cell positioning accuracy for study of slow moving cells. The benefit of low flow speed has been demonstrated also by reduced blurring in the diffraction images of single cells. Based on these results, we concluded that the new designs of chamber and sheath nozzle produce stable hydrodynamic focusing of the core fluid at low speed and allow detailed study of cellular morphology under various rheological conditions using the diffraction imaging method. © 2013 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Srivastava, Nimisha; Singh, Anup K

Microfluidic devices and methods for flow cytometry are described. In described examples, various sample handling and preparation steps may be carried out within a same microfluidic device as flow cytometry steps. A combination of imaging and flow cytometry is described. In some examples, spiral microchannels serve as incubation chambers. Examples of automated sample handling and flow cytometry are described.

Validation of a single-platform method for hematopoietic CD34+ stem cells enumeration according to accreditation procedure.

PubMed

Massin, Frédéric; Huili, Cai; Decot, Véronique; Stoltz, Jean-François; Bensoussan, Danièle; Latger-Cannard, Véronique

2015-01-01

Stem cells for autologous and allogenic transplantation are obtained from several sources including bone marrow, peripheral blood or cord blood. Accurate enumeration of viable CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) is routinely used in clinical settings, especially to monitor progenitor cell mobilization and apheresis. The number of viable CD34+ HSC has also been shown to be the most critical factor in haematopoietic engraftment. The International Society for Cellular Therapy actually recommends the use of single-platform flow cytometry system using 7-AAD as a viability dye. In a way to move routine analysis from a BD FACSCaliburTM instrument to a BD FACSCantoTM II, according to ISO 15189 standard guidelines, we define laboratory performance data of the BDTM Stem Cell Enumeration (SCE) kit on a CE-IVD system including a BD FACSCanto II flow cytometer and the BD FACSCantoTM Clinical Software. InterQCTM software, a real time internet laboratory QC management system developed by VitroTM and distributed by Becton DickinsonTM, was also tested to monitor daily QC data, to define the internal laboratory statistics and to compare them to external laboratories. Precision was evaluated with BDTM Stem Cell Control (high and low) results and the InterQC software, an internet laboratory QC management system by Vitro. This last one drew Levey-Jennings curves and generated numeral statistical parameters allowing detection of potential changes in the system performances as well as interlaboratory comparisons. Repeatability, linearity and lower limits of detection were obtained with routine samples from different origins. Agreement evaluation between BD FACSCanto II system versus BD FACSCalibur system was tested on fresh peripheral blood, freeze-thawed apheresis, fresh bone marrow and fresh cord blood samples. Instrument's measure and staining repeatability clearly evidenced acceptable variability on the different samples tested. Intra- and inter-laboratory CV in CD34+ cell absolute count are consistent and reproducible. Linearity analysis, established between 2 and 329 cells/μl showed a linear relation between expected counts and measured counts (R2=0.97). Linear regression and Bland-Altman representations showed an excellent correlation on samples from different sources between the two systems and allowed the transfer of routine analysis from BD FACSCalibur to BD FACSCanto II. The BD SCE kit provides an accurate measure of the CD34 HSC, and can be used in daily routine to optimize the enumeration of hematopoietic CD34+ stem cells by flow cytometry. Moreover, the InterQC system seems to be a very useful tool for laboratory daily quality monitoring and thus for accreditation.

Pinched-flow hydrodynamic stretching of single-cells.

PubMed

Dudani, Jaideep S; Gossett, Daniel R; Tse, Henry T K; Di Carlo, Dino

2013-09-21

Reorganization of cytoskeletal networks, condensation and decondensation of chromatin, and other whole cell structural changes often accompany changes in cell state and can reflect underlying disease processes. As such, the observable mechanical properties, or mechanophenotype, which is closely linked to intracellular architecture, can be a useful label-free biomarker of disease. In order to make use of this biomarker, a tool to measure cell mechanical properties should accurately characterize clinical specimens that consist of heterogeneous cell populations or contain small diseased subpopulations. Because of the heterogeneity and potential for rare populations in clinical samples, single-cell, high-throughput assays are ideally suited. Hydrodynamic stretching has recently emerged as a powerful method for carrying out mechanical phenotyping. Importantly, this method operates independently of molecular probes, reducing cost and sample preparation time, and yields information-rich signatures of cell populations through significant image analysis automation, promoting more widespread adoption. In this work, we present an alternative mode of hydrodynamic stretching where inertially-focused cells are squeezed in flow by perpendicular high-speed pinch flows that are extracted from the single inputted cell suspension. The pinched-flow stretching method reveals expected differences in cell deformability in two model systems. Furthermore, hydraulic circuit design is used to tune stretching forces and carry out multiple stretching modes (pinched-flow and extensional) in the same microfluidic channel with a single fluid input. The ability to create a self-sheathing flow from a single input solution should have general utility for other cytometry systems and the pinched-flow design enables an order of magnitude higher throughput (65,000 cells s(-1)) compared to our previously reported deformability cytometry method, which will be especially useful for identification of rare cell populations in clinical body fluids in the future.

Hyperspectral cytometry.

PubMed

Grégori, Gérald; Rajwa, Bartek; Patsekin, Valery; Jones, James; Furuki, Motohiro; Yamamoto, Masanobu; Paul Robinson, J

2014-01-01

Hyperspectral cytometry is an emerging technology for single-cell analysis that combines ultrafast optical spectroscopy and flow cytometry. Spectral cytometry systems utilize diffraction gratings or prism-based monochromators to disperse fluorescence signals from multiple labels (organic dyes, nanoparticles, or fluorescent proteins) present in each analyzed bioparticle onto linear detector arrays such as multianode photomultipliers or charge-coupled device sensors. The resultant data, consisting of a series of characterizing every analyzed cell, are not compensated by employing the traditional cytometry approach, but rather are spectrally unmixed utilizing algorithms such as constrained Poisson regression or non-negative matrix factorization. Although implementations of spectral cytometry were envisioned as early as the 1980s, only recently has the development of highly sensitive photomultiplier tube arrays led to design and construction of functional prototypes and subsequently to introduction of commercially available systems. This chapter summarizes the historical efforts and work in the field of spectral cytometry performed at Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories and describes the technology developed by Sony Corporation that resulted in release of the first commercial spectral cytometry system-the Sony SP6800. A brief introduction to spectral data analysis is also provided, with emphasis on the differences between traditional polychromatic and spectral cytometry approaches.

Quantitative Analysis of Protein Translocations by Microfluidic Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Wang, Jun; Fei, Bei; Geahlen, Robert L.

2010-01-01

Protein translocation, or the change in a protein’s location between different subcellular compartments, is a critical process by which intracellular proteins carry out their cellular functions. Aberrant translocation events contribute to various diseases ranging from metabolic disorders to cancer. In this study, we demonstrate the use of a newly developed single-cell tool, microfluidic total internal reflection fluorescence flow cytometry (TIRF-FC), for detecting both cytosol to plasma membrane and cytosol to nucleus translocations using the tyrosine kinase Syk and the transcription factor NF-κB as models. This technique detects fluorescent molecules at the plasma membrane and in the membrane-proximal cytosol in single cells. We were able to record quantitatively changes in the fluorescence density in the evanescent field associated with these translocation processes for large cell populations with single cell resolution. We envision that TIRF-FC will provide a new approach to explore the molecular biology and clinical relevance of protein translocations. PMID:20820633

An improved method for differentiating cell-bound from internalized particles by imaging flow cytometry.

PubMed

Smirnov, Asya; Solga, Michael D; Lannigan, Joanne; Criss, Alison K

2015-08-01

Recognition, binding, internalization, and elimination of pathogens and cell debris are important functions of professional as well as non-professional phagocytes. However, high-throughput methods for quantifying cell-associated particles and discriminating bound from internalized particles have been lacking. Here we describe a protocol for using imaging flow cytometry to quantify the attached and phagocytosed particles that are associated with a population of cells. Cells were exposed to fluorescent particles, fixed, and exposed to an antibody of a different fluorophore that recognizes the particles. The antibody is added without cell permeabilization, such that the antibody only binds extracellular particles. Cells with and without associated particles were identified by imaging flow cytometry. For each cell with associated particles, a spot count algorithm was employed to quantify the number of extracellular (double fluorescent) and intracellular (single fluorescent) particles per cell, from which the percent particle internalization was determined. The spot count algorithm was empirically validated by examining the fluorescence and phase contrast images acquired by the flow cytometer. We used this protocol to measure binding and internalization of the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae by primary human neutrophils, using different bacterial variants and under different cellular conditions. The results acquired using imaging flow cytometry agreed with findings that were previously obtained using conventional immunofluorescence microscopy. This protocol provides a rapid, powerful method for measuring the association and internalization of any particle by any cell type. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Surface modified alginate microcapsules for 3D cell culture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yi-Wen; Kuo, Chiung Wen; Chueh, Di-Yen; Chen, Peilin

2016-06-01

Culture as three dimensional cell aggregates or spheroids can offer an ideal platform for tissue engineering applications and for pharmaceutical screening. Such 3D culture models, however, may suffer from the problems such as immune response and ineffective and cumbersome culture. This paper describes a simple method for producing microcapsules with alginate cores and a thin shell of poly(L-lysine)-graft-poly(ethylene glycol) (PLL-g-PEG) to encapsulate mouse induced pluripotent stem (miPS) cells, generating a non-fouling surface as an effective immunoisolation barrier. We demonstrated the trapping of the alginate microcapsules in a microwell array for the continuous observation and culture of a large number of encapsulated miPS cells in parallel. miPS cells cultured in the microcapsules survived well and proliferated to form a single cell aggregate. Droplet formation of monodisperse microcapsules with controlled size combined with flow cytometry provided an efficient way to quantitatively analyze the growth of encapsulated cells in a high-throughput manner. The simple and cost-effective coating technique employed to produce the core-shell microcapsules could be used in the emerging field of cell therapy. The microwell array would provide a convenient, user friendly and high-throughput platform for long-term cell culture and monitoring.

Human immune cell targeting of protein nanoparticles - caveospheres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glass, Joshua J.; Yuen, Daniel; Rae, James; Johnston, Angus P. R.; Parton, Robert G.; Kent, Stephen J.; de Rose, Robert

2016-04-01

Nanotechnology has the power to transform vaccine and drug delivery through protection of payloads from both metabolism and off-target effects, while facilitating specific delivery of cargo to immune cells. However, evaluation of immune cell nanoparticle targeting is conventionally restricted to monocultured cell line models. We generated human caveolin-1 nanoparticles, termed caveospheres, which were efficiently functionalized with monoclonal antibodies. Using this platform, we investigated CD4+ T cell and CD20+ B cell targeting within physiological mixtures of primary human blood immune cells using flow cytometry, imaging flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Antibody-functionalization enhanced caveosphere binding to targeted immune cells (6.6 to 43.9-fold) within mixed populations and in the presence of protein-containing fluids. Moreover, targeting caveospheres to CCR5 enabled caveosphere internalization by non-phagocytic CD4+ T cells--an important therapeutic target for HIV treatment. This efficient and flexible system of immune cell-targeted caveosphere nanoparticles holds promise for the development of advanced immunotherapeutics and vaccines.

High-Throughput Particle Uptake Analysis by Imaging Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Smirnov, Asya; Solga, Michael D.; Lannigan, Joanne; Criss, Alison K.

2017-01-01

Quantifying the efficiency of particle uptake by host cells is important in fields including infectious diseases, autoimmunity, cancer, developmental biology, and drug delivery. Here we present a protocol for high-throughput analysis of particle uptake using imaging flow cytometry, using the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae attached and internalized to neutrophils as an example. Cells are exposed to fluorescently labeled bacteria, fixed, and stained with a bacteria-specific antibody of a different fluorophore. Thus in the absence of a permeabilizing agent, extracellular bacteria are double-labeled with two fluorophores while intracellular bacteria remain single-labeled. A spot count algorithm is used to determine the number of single- and double-labeled bacteria in individual cells, to calculate the percent of cells associated with bacteria, percent of cells with internalized bacteria, and percent of cell-associated bacteria that are internalized. These analyses quantify bacterial association and internalization across thousands of cells and can be applied to diverse experimental systems. PMID:28369762

Flow cytometry shows added value in diagnosing lymphoma in brain biopsies.

PubMed

van der Meulen, Matthijs; Bromberg, Jacoline E C; Lam, King H; Dammers, Ruben; Langerak, Anton W; Doorduijn, Jeanette K; Kros, Johan M; van den Bent, Martin J; van der Velden, Vincent H J

2018-05-10

To assess the sensitivity, specificity and turnaround time of flow cytometric analysis on brain biopsies compared to histology plus immunohistochemistry analysis in tumors with clinical suspicion of lymphoma. All brain biopsies performed between 2010 and 2015 at our institution and analyzed by both immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry were included in this retrospective study. Immunohistochemistry was considered the gold standard. In a total of 77 biopsies from 71 patients, 49 lymphomas were diagnosed by immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry results were concordant in 71 biopsies (92,2%). We found a specificity and sensitivity of flow cytometry of 100% and 87,8%, respectively. The time between the biopsy and reporting the result (turnaround time) was significantly shorter for flow cytometry, compared to immunohistochemistry (median: 1 versus 5 days). Flow cytometry has a high specificity and can confirm the diagnosis of a lymphoma significantly faster than immunohistochemistry. This allows for rapid initiation of treatment in this highly aggressive tumor. However, since its sensitivity is less than 100%, we recommend to perform histology plus immunohistochemistry in parallel to flow cytometry. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. © 2018 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Technical advances in flow cytometry-based diagnosis and monitoring of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria

PubMed Central

Correia, Rodolfo Patussi; Bento, Laiz Cameirão; Bortolucci, Ana Carolina Apelle; Alexandre, Anderson Marega; Vaz, Andressa da Costa; Schimidell, Daniela; Pedro, Eduardo de Carvalho; Perin, Fabricio Simões; Nozawa, Sonia Tsukasa; Mendes, Cláudio Ernesto Albers; Barroso, Rodrigo de Souza; Bacal, Nydia Strachman

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT Objective: To discuss the implementation of technical advances in laboratory diagnosis and monitoring of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria for validation of high-sensitivity flow cytometry protocols. Methods: A retrospective study based on analysis of laboratory data from 745 patient samples submitted to flow cytometry for diagnosis and/or monitoring of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Results: Implementation of technical advances reduced test costs and improved flow cytometry resolution for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria clone detection. Conclusion: High-sensitivity flow cytometry allowed more sensitive determination of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria clone type and size, particularly in samples with small clones. PMID:27759825

Optofluidic time-stretch microscopy: recent advances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Cheng; Nitta, Nao; Ozeki, Yasuyuki; Goda, Keisuke

2018-06-01

Flow cytometry is an indispensable method for valuable applications in numerous fields such as immunology, pathology, pharmacology, molecular biology, and marine biology. Optofluidic time-stretch microscopy is superior to conventional flow cytometry methods for its capability to acquire high-quality images of single cells at a high-throughput exceeding 10,000 cells per second. This makes it possible to extract copious information from cellular images for accurate cell detection and analysis with the assistance of machine learning. Optofluidic time-stretch microscopy has proven its effectivity in various applications, including microalga-based biofuel production, evaluation of thrombotic disorders, as well as drug screening and discovery. In this review, we discuss the principles and recent advances of optofluidic time-stretch microscopy.

Optofluidic time-stretch microscopy: recent advances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lei, Cheng; Nitta, Nao; Ozeki, Yasuyuki; Goda, Keisuke

2018-04-01

Flow cytometry is an indispensable method for valuable applications in numerous fields such as immunology, pathology, pharmacology, molecular biology, and marine biology. Optofluidic time-stretch microscopy is superior to conventional flow cytometry methods for its capability to acquire high-quality images of single cells at a high-throughput exceeding 10,000 cells per second. This makes it possible to extract copious information from cellular images for accurate cell detection and analysis with the assistance of machine learning. Optofluidic time-stretch microscopy has proven its effectivity in various applications, including microalga-based biofuel production, evaluation of thrombotic disorders, as well as drug screening and discovery. In this review, we discuss the principles and recent advances of optofluidic time-stretch microscopy.

Dissecting the Role of IGFBP-2 in Development of Acute Myeloid Leukemia

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

surface proteins on freshly isolated and cultured cells, as determined by flow cytometry ... Surface Immune Molecules on Phenotypic HSCs during Culture (A and B) A summary of the result of flow cytometry analysis of surface expression of indicated...from the distant implanted tumor were counted by flow cytometry analysis. The flow cytometry result was confirmed by counting GFP+ surface foci of

Flow cytometry analysis of hormone receptors on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells to identify stress-induced neuroendocrine effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meehan, R. T.

1986-01-01

Understanding the role of circulating peptide hormones in the pathogenesis of space-flight induced disorders would be greatly facilitated by a method which monitors chronic levels of hormones and their effects upon in vivo cell physiology. Single and simultaneous multiparameter flow cytometry analysis was employed to identify subpopulations of mononuclear cells bearing receptors for ACTH, Endorphin, and Somatomedin-C using monoclonal antibodies and monospecific antisera with indirect immunofluorescence. Blood samples were obtained from normal donors and subjects participating in decompression chamber studies (acute stress), medical student academic examination (chronic stress), and a drug study (Dexamethasone). Preliminary results indicate most ACTH and Endorphin receptor positive cells are monocytes and B-cells, exhibit little diurnal variation but the relative percentages of receptor positive cells are influenced by exposure to various stressors and ACTH inhibition. This study demonstrates the capability of flow cytometry analysis to study cell surface hormone receptor regulation which should allow insight into neuroendocrine modulation of the immune and other cellular systems during exposure to stress or microgravity.

Differences in leukocyte differentiation molecule abundances on domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) neutrophils identified by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Highland, Margaret A; Schneider, David A; White, Stephen N; Madsen-Bouterse, Sally A; Knowles, Donald P; Davis, William C

2016-06-01

Although both domestic sheep (DS) and bighorn sheep (BHS) are affected by similar respiratory bacterial pathogens, experimental and field data indicate BHS are more susceptible to pneumonia. Cross-reactive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for use in flow cytometry (FC) are valuable reagents for interspecies comparative immune system analyses. This study describes cross-reactive mAbs that recognize leukocyte differentiation molecules (LDMs) and major histocompatibility complex antigens on DS and BHS leukocytes. Characterization of multichannel eosinophil autofluorescence in this study permitted cell-type specific gating of granulocytes for evaluating LDMs, specifically on neutrophils, by single-label FC. Evaluation of relative abundances of LDMs by flow cytometry revealed greater CD11a, CD11b, CD18 (β2 integrins) and CD 172a (SIRPα) on DS neutrophils and greater CD14 (lipopolysaccharide receptor) on BHS neutrophils. Greater CD25 (IL-2) was identified on BHS lymphocytes following Concavalin A stimulation. While DS and BHS have similar total peripheral blood leukocyte counts, BHS have proportionately more neutrophils. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Managing Multi-center Flow Cytometry Data for Immune Monitoring

PubMed Central

White, Scott; Laske, Karoline; Welters, Marij JP; Bidmon, Nicole; van der Burg, Sjoerd H; Britten, Cedrik M; Enzor, Jennifer; Staats, Janet; Weinhold, Kent J; Gouttefangeas, Cécile; Chan, Cliburn

2014-01-01

With the recent results of promising cancer vaccines and immunotherapy1–5, immune monitoring has become increasingly relevant for measuring treatment-induced effects on T cells, and an essential tool for shedding light on the mechanisms responsible for a successful treatment. Flow cytometry is the canonical multi-parameter assay for the fine characterization of single cells in solution, and is ubiquitously used in pre-clinical tumor immunology and in cancer immunotherapy trials. Current state-of-the-art polychromatic flow cytometry involves multi-step, multi-reagent assays followed by sample acquisition on sophisticated instruments capable of capturing up to 20 parameters per cell at a rate of tens of thousands of cells per second. Given the complexity of flow cytometry assays, reproducibility is a major concern, especially for multi-center studies. A promising approach for improving reproducibility is the use of automated analysis borrowing from statistics, machine learning and information visualization21–23, as these methods directly address the subjectivity, operator-dependence, labor-intensive and low fidelity of manual analysis. However, it is quite time-consuming to investigate and test new automated analysis techniques on large data sets without some centralized information management system. For large-scale automated analysis to be practical, the presence of consistent and high-quality data linked to the raw FCS files is indispensable. In particular, the use of machine-readable standard vocabularies to characterize channel metadata is essential when constructing analytic pipelines to avoid errors in processing, analysis and interpretation of results. For automation, this high-quality metadata needs to be programmatically accessible, implying the need for a consistent Application Programming Interface (API). In this manuscript, we propose that upfront time spent normalizing flow cytometry data to conform to carefully designed data models enables automated analysis, potentially saving time in the long run. The ReFlow informatics framework was developed to address these data management challenges. PMID:26085786

Large-scale affordable PanLeucogated CD4+ testing with proactive internal and external quality assessment: in support of the South African national comprehensive care, treatment and management programme for HIV and AIDS.

PubMed

Glencross, Deborah K; Janossy, George; Coetzee, Lindi M; Lawrie, Denise; Aggett, Hazel M; Scott, Lesley E; Sanne, Ian; McIntyre, James A; Stevens, Wendy

2008-01-01

In order to expand the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) infected patients in Africa, millions will require cost-effective CD4 counts. Supporting laboratories therefore, need to move away from crisis management and haphazard practices to organized pathology services. The authors reviewed the performance of the simplified single platform (SP) PanLeucogated (PLG) CD4 methodology, introduced into 52 laboratories across the South African National Health Laboratory Service (SA-NHLS), with a proactive approach to training, internal quality control (IQC), and external quality assessment (EQA). Two-color flow cytometry for SP PLG (CD4/CD45) was combined with the sample-by-sample bead-count-rate (BCR) IQC for bead pipetting. PLG + BCR was validated versus conventional predicate SP and dual-platform (DP) 4-color flow cytometric methods used in the first world-on 1181 samples from 250 HIV+ patients followed longitudinally on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). EQA (accuracy) was performed through the United Kingdom National External Quality Assessment Scheme (UK-NEQAS). Further EQA was performed across the 52 SA-NHLS SP-PLG laboratories participating on the CD4 African Regional External Quality Assessment Scheme (AFREQAS), to assess both accuracy and/precision between NHLS PLG laboratories. There was virtually no bias noted between SP PLG and SP predicate methods. On DP, bias and variability increased but the errors introduced were minor without affecting CD4-related clinical decisions. The simpler 2-color PLG was less expensive with additional advantages: CD4+ T-cells were discriminated from monocytes without a need for CD3-staining, and the training was faster and easier for the trainees and trainers alike. The accuracy of SP-PLG was satisfactory: all PLG results submitted to the UK NEQAS were within +/-1 Trimmed Standard Deviation (SD) of the UK NEQAS CD4 Pool Trimmed Mean. Further, on the CD4 AFREQAS, the SA-NHLS laboratories using SP-PLG + BCR showed better precision (mean %CV = 7.2%) than the CD4 methods employed in other laboratories in Africa (mean %CV = 10.7%) or on other continents (mean %CV = 12.9%). PLG + BCR accommodated high workloads, exceeding 3,000 tests/laboratory/month, with capacity for further growth around 10% per month across the SA-NHLS. The superior performance of PLG + BCR over other methods has been demonstrated. In resource-conscious countries, where large-scale ART is being introduced, flow-cytometry using PLG + BCR can make a significant impact-due to simpler operation, easier training, stricter quality assurance, and better cost-efficiency. These cost-effective flow methods can legitimately replace the more cumbersome predicate technology of the first world for ART monitoring whilst accommodating an ever-expanding national ART program and consequent extremely high workloads reached country-wide. Copyright 2008 Clinical Cytometry Society.

In vivo flow cytometry of circulating clots using negative phototothermal and photoacoustic contrasts

PubMed Central

Galanzha, Ekaterina I.; Sarimollaoglu, Mustafa; Nedosekin, Dmitry A.; Keyrouz, Salah G.; Mehta, Jawahar L.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2012-01-01

Conventional photothermal (PT) and photoacousic (PA) imaging, spectroscopy, and cytometry are preferentially based on positive PT/PA effects, when signals are above background. Here, we introduce PT/PA technique based on detection of negative signals below background. Among various new applications, we propose label-free in vivo flow cytometry of circulating clots. No method has been developed for the early detection of clots of different compositions as a source of severe thromboembolisms including ischemia at strokes and myocardial dysfunction at heart attack. When a low-absorbing, platelet-rich clot passes a laser-irradiated vessel volume, a transient decrease in local absorption results in an ultrasharp negative PA hole in blood background. Using this phenomenon alone or in combination with positive contrasts, we demonstrated identification of white, red and mixed clots on a mouse model of myocardial infarction and human blood. The concentration and size of clots were measured with threshold down to few clots in the entire circulation with size as low as 20 µm. This multiparameter diagnostic platform using portable personal high-speed flow cytometer with negative dynamic contrast mode has potential to real-time defining risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, and for prognosis and prevention of stroke or use clot count as a marker of therapy efficacy. Possibility for label-free detection of platelets, leukocytes, tumor cells or targeting them by negative PA probes (e.g., nonabsorbing beads or bubbles) is also highlighted. PMID:21976458

Combination of automated high throughput platforms, flow cytometry, and hierarchical clustering to detect cell state.

PubMed

Kitsos, Christine M; Bhamidipati, Phani; Melnikova, Irena; Cash, Ethan P; McNulty, Chris; Furman, Julia; Cima, Michael J; Levinson, Douglas

2007-01-01

This study examined whether hierarchical clustering could be used to detect cell states induced by treatment combinations that were generated through automation and high-throughput (HT) technology. Data-mining techniques were used to analyze the large experimental data sets to determine whether nonlinear, non-obvious responses could be extracted from the data. Unary, binary, and ternary combinations of pharmacological factors (examples of stimuli) were used to induce differentiation of HL-60 cells using a HT automated approach. Cell profiles were analyzed by incorporating hierarchical clustering methods on data collected by flow cytometry. Data-mining techniques were used to explore the combinatorial space for nonlinear, unexpected events. Additional small-scale, follow-up experiments were performed on cellular profiles of interest. Multiple, distinct cellular profiles were detected using hierarchical clustering of expressed cell-surface antigens. Data-mining of this large, complex data set retrieved cases of both factor dominance and cooperativity, as well as atypical cellular profiles. Follow-up experiments found that treatment combinations producing "atypical cell types" made those cells more susceptible to apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS Hierarchical clustering and other data-mining techniques were applied to analyze large data sets from HT flow cytometry. From each sample, the data set was filtered and used to define discrete, usable states that were then related back to their original formulations. Analysis of resultant cell populations induced by a multitude of treatments identified unexpected phenotypes and nonlinear response profiles.

Multi-parametric analysis of phagocyte antimicrobial responses using imaging flow cytometry.

PubMed

Havixbeck, Jeffrey J; Wong, Michael E; More Bayona, Juan A; Barreda, Daniel R

2015-08-01

We feature a multi-parametric approach based on an imaging flow cytometry platform for examining phagocyte antimicrobial responses against the gram-negative bacterium Aeromonas veronii. This pathogen is known to induce strong inflammatory responses across a broad range of animal species, including humans. We examined the contribution of A. veronii to the induction of early phagocyte inflammatory processes in RAW 264.7 murine macrophages in vitro. We found that A. veronii, both in live or heat-killed forms, induced similar levels of macrophage activation based on NF-κB translocation. Although these macrophages maintained high levels of viability following heat-killed or live challenges with A. veronii, we identified inhibition of macrophage proliferation as early as 1h post in vitro challenge. The characterization of phagocytic responses showed a time-dependent increase in phagocytosis upon A. veronii challenge, which was paired with a robust induction of intracellular respiratory burst responses. Interestingly, despite the overall increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) among RAW 264.7 macrophages, we found a significant reduction in the production of ROS among the macrophage subset that had bound A. veronii. Phagocytic uptake of the pathogen further decreased ROS production levels, even beyond those of unstimulated controls. Overall, this multi-parametric imaging flow cytometry-based approach allowed for segregation of unique phagocyte sub-populations and examination of their downstream antimicrobial responses, and should contribute to improved understanding of phagocyte responses against Aeromonas and other pathogens. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Gating mass cytometry data by deep learning.

PubMed

Li, Huamin; Shaham, Uri; Stanton, Kelly P; Yao, Yi; Montgomery, Ruth R; Kluger, Yuval

2017-11-01

Mass cytometry or CyTOF is an emerging technology for high-dimensional multiparameter single cell analysis that overcomes many limitations of fluorescence-based flow cytometry. New methods for analyzing CyTOF data attempt to improve automation, scalability, performance and interpretation of data generated in large studies. Assigning individual cells into discrete groups of cell types (gating) involves time-consuming sequential manual steps, untenable for larger studies. We introduce DeepCyTOF, a standardization approach for gating, based on deep learning techniques. DeepCyTOF requires labeled cells from only a single sample. It is based on domain adaptation principles and is a generalization of previous work that allows us to calibrate between a target distribution and a source distribution in an unsupervised manner. We show that DeepCyTOF is highly concordant (98%) with cell classification obtained by individual manual gating of each sample when applied to a collection of 16 biological replicates of primary immune blood cells, even when measured across several instruments. Further, DeepCyTOF achieves very high accuracy on the semi-automated gating challenge of the FlowCAP-I competition as well as two CyTOF datasets generated from primary immune blood cells: (i) 14 subjects with a history of infection with West Nile virus (WNV), (ii) 34 healthy subjects of different ages. We conclude that deep learning in general, and DeepCyTOF specifically, offers a powerful computational approach for semi-automated gating of CyTOF and flow cytometry data. Our codes and data are publicly available at https://github.com/KlugerLab/deepcytof.git. yuval.kluger@yale.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

An active, collaborative approach to learning skills in flow cytometry.

PubMed

Fuller, Kathryn; Linden, Matthew D; Lee-Pullen, Tracey; Fragall, Clayton; Erber, Wendy N; Röhrig, Kimberley J

2016-06-01

Advances in science education research have the potential to improve the way students learn to perform scientific interpretations and understand science concepts. We developed active, collaborative activities to teach skills in manipulating flow cytometry data using FlowJo software. Undergraduate students were given compensated clinical flow cytometry listmode output (FCS) files and asked to design a gating strategy to diagnose patients with different hematological malignancies on the basis of their immunophenotype. A separate cohort of research trainees was given uncompensated data files on which they performed their own compensation, calculated the antibody staining index, designed a sequential gating strategy, and quantified rare immune cell subsets. Student engagement, confidence, and perceptions of flow cytometry were assessed using a survey. Competency against the learning outcomes was assessed by asking students to undertake tasks that required understanding of flow cytometry dot plot data and gating sequences. The active, collaborative approach allowed students to achieve learning outcomes not previously possible with traditional teaching formats, for example, having students design their own gating strategy, without forgoing essential outcomes such as the interpretation of dot plots. In undergraduate students, favorable perceptions of flow cytometry as a field and as a potential career choice were correlated with student confidence but not the ability to perform flow cytometry data analysis. We demonstrate that this new pedagogical approach to teaching flow cytometry is beneficial for student understanding and interpretation of complex concepts. It should be considered as a useful new method for incorporating complex data analysis tasks such as flow cytometry into curricula. Copyright © 2016 The American Physiological Society.

Imaging flow cytometry assays for quantifying pigment grade titanium dioxide particle internalization and interactions with immune cells in whole blood

PubMed Central

Vis, Bradley; Pele, Laetitia C.; Faria, Nuno; Powell, Jonathan J.

2017-01-01

Abstract Pigment grade titanium dioxide is composed of sub‐micron sized particles, including a nanofraction, and is widely utilized in food, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries. Oral exposure to pigment grade titanium dioxide results in at least some material entering the circulation in humans, although subsequent interactions with blood immune cells are unknown. Pigment grade titanium dioxide is employed for its strong light scattering properties, and this work exploited that attribute to determine whether single cell–particle associations could be determined in immune cells of human whole blood at “real life” concentrations. In vitro assays, initially using isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, identified titanium dioxide associated with the surface of, and within, immune cells by darkfield reflectance in imaging flow cytometry. This was confirmed at the population level by side scatter measurements using conventional flow cytometry. Next, it was demonstrated that imaging flow cytometry could quantify titanium dioxide particle‐bearing cells, within the immune cell populations of fresh whole blood, down to titanium dioxide levels of 10 parts per billion, which is in the range anticipated for human blood following titanium dioxide ingestion. Moreover, surface association and internal localization of titanium dioxide particles could be discriminated in the assays. Overall, results showed that in addition to the anticipated activity of blood monocytes internalizing titanium dioxide particles, neutrophil internalization and cell membrane adhesion also occurred, the latter for both phagocytic and nonphagocytic cell types. What happens in vivo and whether this contributes to activation of one or more of these different cells types in blood merits further attention. © 2017 The Authors. Cytometry Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of ISAC. PMID:28941170

Hyperchromatic laser scanning cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tárnok, Attila; Mittag, Anja

2007-02-01

In the emerging fields of high-content and high-throughput single cell analysis for Systems Biology and Cytomics multi- and polychromatic analysis of biological specimens has become increasingly important. Combining different technologies and staining methods polychromatic analysis (i.e. using 8 or more fluorescent colors at a time) can be pushed forward to measure anything stainable in a cell, an approach termed hyperchromatic cytometry. For cytometric cell analysis microscope based Slide Based Cytometry (SBC) technologies are ideal as, unlike flow cytometry, they are non-consumptive, i.e. the analyzed sample is fixed on the slide. Based on the feature of relocation identical cells can be subsequently reanalyzed. In this manner data on the single cell level after manipulation steps can be collected. In this overview various components for hyperchromatic cytometry are demonstrated for a SBC instrument, the Laser Scanning Cytometer (Compucyte Corp., Cambridge, MA): 1) polychromatic cytometry, 2) iterative restaining (using the same fluorochrome for restaining and subsequent reanalysis), 3) differential photobleaching (differentiating fluorochromes by their different photostability), 4) photoactivation (activating fluorescent nanoparticles or photocaged dyes), and 5) photodestruction (destruction of FRET dyes). With the intelligent combination of several of these techniques hyperchromatic cytometry allows to quantify and analyze virtually all components of relevance on the identical cell. The combination of high-throughput and high-content SBC analysis with high-resolution confocal imaging allows clear verification of phenotypically distinct subpopulations of cells with structural information. The information gained per specimen is only limited by the number of available antibodies and by sterical hindrance.

Femtosecond laser pulse optimization for multiphoton cytometry and control of fluorescence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tkaczyk, Eric Robert

This body of work encompasses optimization of near infrared femtosecond laser pulses both for enhancement of flow cytometry as well as adaptive pulse shaping to control fluorescence. A two-photon system for in vivo flow cytometry is demonstrated, which allows noninvasive quantification of circulating cell populations in a single live mouse. We monitor fluorescently-labeled red blood cells for more than two weeks, and are also able to noninvasively measure circulation times of two distinct populations of breast cancer cells simultaneously in a single mouse. We build a custom laser excitation source in the form of an extended cavity mode-locked oscillator, which enables superior detection in whole blood or saline of cell lines expressing fluorescent proteins including the green fluorescent protein (GFP), tdTomato and mPlum. A mathematical model explains unique features of the signals. The ability to distinguish different fluorescent species is central to simultaneous measurement of multiple molecular targets in high throughput applications including the multiphoton flow cytometer. We demonstrate that two dyes which are not distinguishable to one-photon measurements can be differentiated and in fact quantified in mixture via phase-shaped two-photon excitation pulses found by a genetic algorithm. We also selectively enhance or suppress two-photon fluorescence of numerous common dyes with tailored pulse shapes. Using a multiplicative (rather than ratiometric) fitness parameter, we are able to control the fluorescence while maintaining a strong signal. With this method, we control the two-photon fluorescence of the blue fluorescent protein (BFP), which is of particular interest in investigations of protein-protein interactions, and has frustrated previous attempts of control. Implementing an acousto-optic interferometer, we use the same experimental setup to measure two-photon excitation cross-sections of dyes and prove that photon-photon interferences are the predominant mechanism of control. This research establishes the basis for molecularly tailored pulse shaping in multiphoton flow cytometry, which will advance our ability to probe the biology of circulating cells during disease progression and response to therapy.

Utility of peripheral blood immunophenotyping by flow cytometry in the diagnosis of pediatric acute leukemia.

PubMed

Metrock, Laura K; Summers, Ryan J; Park, Sunita; Gillespie, Scott; Castellino, Sharon; Lew, Glen; Keller, Frank G

2017-10-01

Childhood acute leukemia is traditionally diagnosed from a bone marrow aspirate (BMA). New-onset acute leukemia patients do not always have visible circulating blasts in the peripheral blood (PB) at diagnosis. While the role of bone marrow flow cytometry for the diagnosis of acute leukemia is well established, the utility of PB flow cytometry (PBFC) is unknown. We performed a single-institution retrospective analysis to compare PBFC versus BMA in establishing or excluding a diagnosis of childhood acute leukemia. We retrospectively identified 485 PBFC samples with concurrent BMA from 2008 to 2013. Results of four-color flow cytometry for immunophenotypic characterization of leukemic versus nonclonal disease were characterized. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated among patients without a known diagnosis or prior therapy. Among 485 samples eligible for analysis, 120 had negative PBFC and BMA, 359 had positive PBFC and BMA, 3 had negative PBFC and positive BMA, and 3 had positive PBFC and negative BMA. There were small but significant differences in sensitivity (100 vs. 93.8%; P = 0.002) and positive predictive value (100 vs. 93.8%; P = 0.002) favoring BMA over PBFC among those demonstrating absence of circulating morphologic blasts. PBFC has high sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of childhood acute leukemia. The predictive value of PBFC remains high for patients without visible circulating blasts and may enhance the diagnostic process for determining the indications for marrow testing. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Detection of site specific glycosylation in proteins using flow cytometry†

PubMed Central

Jayakumar, Deepak; Marathe, Dhananjay D.; Neelamegham, Sriram

2009-01-01

We tested the possibility that it is possible to express unique peptide probes on cell surfaces and detect site-specific glycosylation on these peptides using flow cytometry. Such development can enhance the application of flow cytometry to detect and quantify post-translational modifications in proteins. To this end, the N-terminal section of the human leukocyte glycoprotein PSGL-1 (P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1) was modified to contain a poly-histidine tag followed by a proteolytic cleavage site. Amino acids preceding the cleavage site have a single O-linked glycosylation site. The recombinant protein called PSGL-1 (HT) was expressed on the surface of two mammalian cell lines, CHO and HL-60, using a lentiviral delivery approach. Results demonstrate that the N-terminal portion of PSGL-1 (HT) can be released from these cells by protease, and the resulting peptide can be readily captured and detected using cytometry-bead assays. Using this strategy, the peptide was immunoprecipitated onto beads bearing mAbs against either the poly-histidine sequence or the human PSGL-1. The carbohydrate epitope associated with the released peptide was detected using HECA-452 and CSLEX-1, monoclonal antibodies that recognize the sialyl Lewis-X epitope. Finally, the peptide released from cells could be separated and enriched using nickel chelate beads. Overall, such an approach that combines recombinant protein expression with flow cytometry, may be useful to quantify changes in site-specific glycosylation for basic science and clinical applications. PMID:19735085

Label-free high-throughput imaging flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahjoubfar, A.; Chen, C.; Niazi, K. R.; Rabizadeh, S.; Jalali, B.

2014-03-01

Flow cytometry is an optical method for studying cells based on their individual physical and chemical characteristics. It is widely used in clinical diagnosis, medical research, and biotechnology for analysis of blood cells and other cells in suspension. Conventional flow cytometers aim a laser beam at a stream of cells and measure the elastic scattering of light at forward and side angles. They also perform single-point measurements of fluorescent emissions from labeled cells. However, many reagents used in cell labeling reduce cellular viability or change the behavior of the target cells through the activation of undesired cellular processes or inhibition of normal cellular activity. Therefore, labeled cells are not completely representative of their unaltered form nor are they fully reliable for downstream studies. To remove the requirement of cell labeling in flow cytometry, while still meeting the classification sensitivity and specificity goals, measurement of additional biophysical parameters is essential. Here, we introduce an interferometric imaging flow cytometer based on the world's fastest continuous-time camera. Our system simultaneously measures cellular size, scattering, and protein concentration as supplementary biophysical parameters for label-free cell classification. It exploits the wide bandwidth of ultrafast laser pulses to perform blur-free quantitative phase and intensity imaging at flow speeds as high as 10 meters per second and achieves nanometer-scale optical path length resolution for precise measurements of cellular protein concentration.

Flow cytometric characterization of cerebrospinal fluid cells.

PubMed

de Graaf, Marieke T; de Jongste, Arjen H C; Kraan, Jaco; Boonstra, Joke G; Sillevis Smitt, Peter A E; Gratama, Jan W

2011-09-01

Flow cytometry facilitates the detection of a large spectrum of cellular characteristics on a per cell basis, determination of absolute cell numbers and detection of rare events with high sensitivity and specificity. White blood cell (WBC) counts in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are important for the diagnosis of many neurological disorders. WBC counting and differential can be performed by microscopy, hematology analyzers, or flow cytometry. Flow cytometry of CSF is increasingly being considered as the method of choice in patients suspected of leptomeningeal localization of hematological malignancies. Additionally, in several neuroinflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis and paraneoplastic neurological syndromes, flow cytometry is commonly performed to obtain insight into the immunopathogenesis of these diseases. Technically, the low cellularity of CSF samples, combined with the rapidly declining WBC viability, makes CSF flow cytometry challenging. Comparison of flow cytometry with microscopic and molecular techniques shows that each technique has its own advantages and is ideally combined. We expect that increasing the number of flow cytometric parameters that can be simultaneously studied within one sample, will further refine the information on CSF cell subsets in low-cellular CSF samples and enable to define cell populations more accurately. Copyright © 2011 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Positional dependence of particles in microfludic impedance cytometry.

PubMed

Spencer, Daniel; Morgan, Hywel

2011-04-07

Single cell impedance cytometry is a label-free electrical analysis method that requires minimal sample preparation and has been used to count and discriminate cells on the basis of their impedance properties. This paper shows experimental and numerically simulated impedance signals for test particles (6 μm diameter polystyrene) flowing through a microfluidic channel. The variation of impedance signal with particle position is mapped using numerical simulation and these results match closely with experimental data. We demonstrate that for a nominal 40 μm × 40 μm channel, the impedance signal is independent of position over the majority of the channel area, but shows large experimentally verifiable variation at extreme positions. The parabolic flow profile in the channel ensures that most of the sample flows through the area of uniform signal. At high flow rates inertial focusing is observed; the particles flow in equal numbers through two equilibrium positions reducing the coefficient of variance (CV) in the impedance signals to negligible values.

Identification of residual leukemic cells by flow cytometry in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia: verification of leukemic state by flow-sorting and molecular/cytogenetic methods.

PubMed

Øbro, Nina F; Ryder, Lars P; Madsen, Hans O; Andersen, Mette K; Lausen, Birgitte; Hasle, Henrik; Schmiegelow, Kjeld; Marquart, Hanne V

2012-01-01

Reduction in minimal residual disease, measured by real-time quantitative PCR or flow cytometry, predicts prognosis in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We explored whether cells reported as minimal residual disease by flow cytometry represent the malignant clone harboring clone-specific genomic markers (53 follow-up bone marrow samples from 28 children with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia). Cell populations (presumed leukemic and non-leukemic) were flow-sorted during standard flow cytometry-based minimal residual disease monitoring and explored by PCR and/or fluorescence in situ hybridization. We found good concordance between flow cytometry and genomic analyses in the individual flow-sorted leukemic (93% true positive) and normal (93% true negative) cell populations. Four cases with discrepant results had plausible explanations (e.g. partly informative immunophenotype and antigen modulation) that highlight important methodological pitfalls. These findings demonstrate that with sufficient experience, flow cytometry is reliable for minimal residual disease monitoring in B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia, although rare cases require supplementary PCR-based monitoring.

Topically Delivered Adipose Derived Stem Cells Show an Activated-Fibroblast Phenotype and Enhance Granulation Tissue Formation in Skin Wounds

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-31

have similar surface markers . We found that topically delivered ASCs are engrafted and proliferate in the wounds. We showed that transplanted ASCs...Material Command (W81XWH-10-2-0054). Flow cytometry was supported by the Northwestern University Flow Cytometry Facility and a Cancer Center Support...blasticidin. GFP expressing cells were further selected by flow cytometry using the Northwestern University Flow Cytometry Facility. Treatment of MSCs

Single-cell trapping and selective treatment via co-flow within a microfluidic platform.

PubMed

Benavente-Babace, A; Gallego-Pérez, D; Hansford, D J; Arana, S; Pérez-Lorenzo, E; Mujika, M

2014-11-15

Lab on a chip (LOC) systems provide interesting and low-cost solutions for key studies and applications in the biomedical field. Along with microfluidics, these microdevices make single-cell manipulation possible with high spatial and temporal resolution. In this work we have designed, fabricated and characterized a versatile and inexpensive microfluidic platform for on-chip selective single-cell trapping and treatment using laminar co-flow. The combination of co-existing laminar flow manipulation and hydrodynamic single-cell trapping for selective treatment offers a cost-effective solution for studying the effect of novel drugs on single-cells. The operation of the whole system is experimentally simple, highly adaptable and requires no specific equipment. As a proof of concept, a cytotoxicity study of ethanol in isolated hepatocytes is presented. The developed microfluidic platform controlled by means of co-flow is an attractive and multipurpose solution for the study of new substances of high interest in cell biology research. In addition, this platform will pave the way for the study of cell behavior under dynamic and controllable fluidic conditions providing information at the individual cell level. Thus, this analysis device could also hold a great potential to easily use the trapped cells as sensing elements expanding its functionalities as a cell-based biosensor with single-cell resolution. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Noninvasive and Real-Time Method for Circulating Tumor Cell Detection by In Vivo Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Wei, Xunbin; Zhou, Jian; Zhu, Xi; Yang, Xinrong; Yang, Ping; Wang, Qiyan

2017-01-01

The quantification of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has been considered a potentially powerful tool in cancer diagnosis and prognosis, as CTCs have been shown to appear very early in cancer development. Great efforts have been made to develop methods that were less invasive and more sensitive to detect CTCs earlier. There is growing evidence that CTC clusters have greater metastatic potential than single CTCs. Therefore, the detection of CTC clusters is also important. This chapter is aimed to introduce a noninvasive technique for CTCs detection named in vivo flow cytometry (IVFC), which has been demonstrated to be capable of monitoring CTCs dynamics continuously. Furthermore, IVFC could be helpful for CTC cluster enumeration.

Highly multiparametric analysis by mass cytometry.

PubMed

Ornatsky, Olga; Bandura, Dmitry; Baranov, Vladimir; Nitz, Mark; Winnik, Mitchell A; Tanner, Scott

2010-09-30

This review paper describes a new technology, mass cytometry, that addresses applications typically run by flow cytometer analyzers, but extends the capability to highly multiparametric analysis. The detection technology is based on atomic mass spectrometry. It offers quantitation, specificity and dynamic range of mass spectrometry in a format that is familiar to flow cytometry practitioners. The mass cytometer does not require compensation, allowing the application of statistical techniques; this has been impossible given the constraints of fluorescence noise with traditional cytometry instruments. Instead of "colors" the mass cytometer "reads" the stable isotope tags attached to antibodies using metal-chelating labeling reagents. Because there are many available stable isotopes, and the mass spectrometer provides exquisite resolution between detection channels, many parameters can be measured as easily as one. For example, in a single tube the technique allows for the ready detection and characterization of the major cell subsets in blood or bone marrow. Here we describe mass cytometric immunophenotyping of human leukemia cell lines and leukemia patient samples, differential cell analysis of normal peripheral and umbilical cord blood; intracellular protein identification and metal-encoded bead arrays. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preparation of genomic DNA from a single species of uncultured magnetotactic bacterium by multiple-displacement amplification.

PubMed

Arakaki, Atsushi; Shibusawa, Mie; Hosokawa, Masahito; Matsunaga, Tadashi

2010-03-01

Magnetotactic bacteria comprise a phylogenetically diverse group that is capable of synthesizing intracellular magnetic particles. Although various morphotypes of magnetotactic bacteria have been observed in the environment, bacterial strains available in pure culture are currently limited to a few genera due to difficulties in their enrichment and cultivation. In order to obtain genetic information from uncultured magnetotactic bacteria, a genome preparation method that involves magnetic separation of cells, flow cytometry, and multiple displacement amplification (MDA) using phi29 polymerase was used in this study. The conditions for the MDA reaction using samples containing 1 to 100 cells were evaluated using a pure-culture magnetotactic bacterium, "Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1," whose complete genome sequence is available. Uniform gene amplification was confirmed by quantitative PCR (Q-PCR) when 100 cells were used as a template. This method was then applied for genome preparation of uncultured magnetotactic bacteria from complex bacterial communities in an aquatic environment. A sample containing 100 cells of the uncultured magnetotactic coccus was prepared by magnetic cell separation and flow cytometry and used as an MDA template. 16S rRNA sequence analysis of the MDA product from these 100 cells revealed that the amplified genomic DNA was from a single species of magnetotactic bacterium that was phylogenetically affiliated with magnetotactic cocci in the Alphaproteobacteria. The combined use of magnetic separation, flow cytometry, and MDA provides a new strategy to access individual genetic information from magnetotactic bacteria in environmental samples.

Comparative exploration of multidimensional flow cytometry software: a model approach evaluating T cell polyfunctional behavior.

PubMed

Spear, Timothy T; Nishimura, Michael I; Simms, Patricia E

2017-08-01

Advancement in flow cytometry reagents and instrumentation has allowed for simultaneous analysis of large numbers of lineage/functional immune cell markers. Highly complex datasets generated by polychromatic flow cytometry require proper analytical software to answer investigators' questions. A problem among many investigators and flow cytometry Shared Resource Laboratories (SRLs), including our own, is a lack of access to a flow cytometry-knowledgeable bioinformatics team, making it difficult to learn and choose appropriate analysis tool(s). Here, we comparatively assess various multidimensional flow cytometry software packages for their ability to answer a specific biologic question and provide graphical representation output suitable for publication, as well as their ease of use and cost. We assessed polyfunctional potential of TCR-transduced T cells, serving as a model evaluation, using multidimensional flow cytometry to analyze 6 intracellular cytokines and degranulation on a per-cell basis. Analysis of 7 parameters resulted in 128 possible combinations of positivity/negativity, far too complex for basic flow cytometry software to analyze fully. Various software packages were used, analysis methods used in each described, and representative output displayed. Of the tools investigated, automated classification of cellular expression by nonlinear stochastic embedding (ACCENSE) and coupled analysis in Pestle/simplified presentation of incredibly complex evaluations (SPICE) provided the most user-friendly manipulations and readable output, evaluating effects of altered antigen-specific stimulation on T cell polyfunctionality. This detailed approach may serve as a model for other investigators/SRLs in selecting the most appropriate software to analyze complex flow cytometry datasets. Further development and awareness of available tools will help guide proper data analysis to answer difficult biologic questions arising from incredibly complex datasets. © Society for Leukocyte Biology.

In vivo flow cytometry and time-resolved near-IR angiography and lymphography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galanzha, Ekaterina I.; Tuchin, Valery V.; Brock, Robert W.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2007-05-01

Integration of photoacoustic and photothermal techniques with high-speed, high-resolution transmission and fluorescence microscopy shows great potential for in vivo flow cytometry and indocyanine green (ICG) near-infrared (IR) angiography of blood and lymph microvessels. In particular, the capabilities of in vivo flow cytometry using rat mesentery and nude mouse ear models are demonstrated for real-time quantitative detection of circulating and migrating individual blood and cancer cells in skin, mesentery, lymph nodes, liver, kidney; studying vascular dynamics with a focus on lymphatics; monitoring cell traffic between blood and lymph systems; high-speed imaging of cell deformability in flow; and label-free real-time monitoring of single cell extravasation from blood vessel lumen into tissue. As presented, the advantages of ICG IR-angiography include estimation of time resolved dye dynamics (appearance and clearance) in blood and lymph microvessels using fluorescent and photoacoustic modules of the integrated technique. These new approaches are important for monitoring and quantifying metastatic and apoptotic cells; comparative measurements of plasma and cell velocities; analysis of immune responses; monitoring of circulating macromolecules, chylomicrons, bacteria, viruses and nanoparticles; molecular imaging. In the future, we believe that the integrated technique presented will have great potential for translation to early disease diagnoses (e.g. cancer) or assessment of innovative therapeutic interventions in humans.

Identification of microbes from the surfaces of food-processing lines based on the flow cytometric evaluation of cellular metabolic activity combined with cell sorting.

PubMed

Juzwa, W; Duber, A; Myszka, K; Białas, W; Czaczyk, K

2016-09-01

In this study the design of a flow cytometry-based procedure to facilitate the detection of adherent bacteria from food-processing surfaces was evaluated. The measurement of the cellular redox potential (CRP) of microbial cells was combined with cell sorting for the identification of microorganisms. The procedure enhanced live/dead cell discrimination owing to the measurement of the cell physiology. The microbial contamination of the surface of a stainless steel conveyor used to process button mushrooms was evaluated in three independent experiments. The flow cytometry procedure provided a step towards monitoring of contamination and enabled the assessment of microbial food safety hazards by the discrimination of active, mid-active and non-active bacterial sub-populations based on determination of their cellular vitality and subsequently single cell sorting to isolate microbial strains from discriminated sub-populations. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.97; p < 0.05) between the bacterial cell count estimated by the pour plate method and flow cytometry, despite there being differences in the absolute number of cells detected. The combined approach of flow cytometric CRP measurement and cell sorting allowed an in situ analysis of microbial cell vitality and the identification of species from defined sub-populations, although the identified microbes were limited to culturable cells.

Imaging flow cytometry for the screening of compounds that disrupt the Plasmodium falciparum digestive vacuole.

PubMed

Chia, Wan Ni; Lee, Yan Quan; Tan, Kevin Shyong-Wei

2017-01-01

Malaria, despite being one of the world's oldest infectious diseases, remains difficult to eradicate because the parasite is rapidly developing resistance to frontline chemotherapies. Previous studies have shown that the parasite exhibits features resembling programmed cell death upon treatment with drugs that disrupt its digestive vacuole (DV), providing a phenotypic readout that can be detected using the imaging flow cytometer. Large compound collections can thus be screened to identify drugs that are able to disrupt the DV of the malaria parasite using this high-content high-throughput screening platform. As a proof-of-concept, 4440 compounds were screened using this platform in 4months and 254 hits (5.7% hit rate) were obtained. Additionally, 25 compounds (0.6% top hit rate) were observed to retain potent DV disruption activity that was comparable to the canonical DV disruptive drug chloroquine when tested at a ten-fold lower concentration from the original screen. This pilot study demonstrates the robustness and high-throughput capability of the imaging flow cytometer and we report herein the methodology of this screening assay. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multiplexed SNP genotyping using the Qbead™ system: a quantum dot-encoded microsphere-based assay

PubMed Central

Xu, Hongxia; Sha, Michael Y.; Wong, Edith Y.; Uphoff, Janet; Xu, Yanzhang; Treadway, Joseph A.; Truong, Anh; O’Brien, Eamonn; Asquith, Steven; Stubbins, Michael; Spurr, Nigel K.; Lai, Eric H.; Mahoney, Walt

2003-01-01

We have developed a new method using the Qbead™ system for high-throughput genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The Qbead system employs fluorescent Qdot™ semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, to encode microspheres that subsequently can be used as a platform for multiplexed assays. By combining mixtures of quantum dots with distinct emission wavelengths and intensities, unique spectral ‘barcodes’ are created that enable the high levels of multiplexing required for complex genetic analyses. Here, we applied the Qbead system to SNP genotyping by encoding microspheres conjugated to allele-specific oligonucleotides. After hybridization of oligonucleotides to amplicons produced by multiplexed PCR of genomic DNA, individual microspheres are analyzed by flow cytometry and each SNP is distinguished by its unique spectral barcode. Using 10 model SNPs, we validated the Qbead system as an accurate and reliable technique for multiplexed SNP genotyping. By modifying the types of probes conjugated to microspheres, the Qbead system can easily be adapted to other assay chemistries for SNP genotyping as well as to other applications such as analysis of gene expression and protein–protein interactions. With its capability for high-throughput automation, the Qbead system has the potential to be a robust and cost-effective platform for a number of applications. PMID:12682378

Improved panels for clinical immune phenotyping: Utilization of the violet laser.

PubMed

Ryherd, Mark; Plassmeyer, Matthew; Alexander, Connor; Eugenio, Ines; Kleschenko, Yuliya; Badger, Ariel; Gupta, Raavi; Alpan, Oral; Sønder, Søren Ulrik

2017-05-10

Clinical diagnostic laboratories are subject to numerous regulations imposed by government agencies. Laboratory developed tests for flow cytometry panels are essentially restricted to the use of analyte-specific reagents (ASR) antibodies. With the advances in clinical flow cytometry systems, there is a trend toward the utilization of blue/red/violet laser flow systems and 8 to 10-color panels. Currently, the selection of commercially available ASR antibodies for the violet laser is very limited. The market is dominated by Brilliant Violet 421 (BV421) manufactured by BD Biosciences and Pacific Blue (PB) manufactured by Beckman Coulter. In this study, we compare BV421 and PB conjugated ASR antibodies. Whole blood was stained and acquired on a Gallios flow cytometer system. For single color staining, the stain index (SI) was calculated. For the two panels, the compensation matrix was calculated and the performance of the antibody cocktails analyzed in FCS Express. The results show that five out of six tested BV421 conjugated antibodies have significantly higher SI than their PB counterparts. Furthermore, BV421 antibodies require less compensation for spillover than PB. Finally, BV421 conjugated antibodies give better separation between negative and positive populations in the context of an 8 and 10 color panel without affecting the intensity of the other dyes. Overall, using BV421 conjugated antibodies results in better separation between populations compared to PB conjugated antibodies without negatively affecting other fluorochromes in our panels. We conclude that the BV421 conjugated ASR antibodies are currently the better available option for clinical flow panels. © 2017 International Clinical Cytometry Society. © 2017 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Optimising the laboratory supply chain: The key to effective laboratory services

PubMed Central

Williams, Jason; Smith, Peter; Kuritsky, Joel

2014-01-01

Background The Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) is a contract managed under the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PFSCM) consortium by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). SCMS procures commodities for programmes supported by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). From 2005 to mid-2012, PEPFAR, through SCMS, spent approximately $384 million on non-pharmaceutical commodities. Of this, an estimated $90m was used to purchase flow cytometry technology, largely for flow cytometry platforms and reagents. Objectives The purpose of this paper is to highlight the cost differences between low, medium and high utilisation rates of common CD4 testing instruments that have been procured though PEPFAR funding. Method A scale of costs per test as a function of test volume through the machine was calculated for the two most common CD4 testing machines used in HIV programmes: Becton Dickinson (BD) FACSCount™ and BD FACSCalibur™. Instrument utilisation data collected at the facility level in three selected countries were then used to calculate the onsite cost-per-test experienced in each country. Results Cost analyses indicated that a target of at least 40% utilisation for FACSCount™ and 15% utilisation for FACSCalibur™, respectively, closely approach maximal per-test cost efficiency. The average utilisation rate for CD4 testing instruments varies widely by country, level of laboratory and partner (0% − 68%). Conclusion Our analysis indicates that, because cost-per-test is related inversely to sample throughput, the underutilisation of flow cytometry machines is resulting in an increase in average cost-per-test for many instruments. PMID:29043175

Integrated Raman and angular scattering microscopy reveals chemical and morphological differences between activated and nonactivated CD8+ T lymphocytes

PubMed Central

Smith, Zachary J.; Wang, Jyh-Chiang E.; Quataert, Sally A.; Berger, Andrew J.

2010-01-01

Integrated Raman and angular-scattering microscopy (IRAM) is a multimodal platform capable of noninvasively probing both the chemistry and morphology of a single cell without prior labeling. Using this system, we are able to detect activation-dependent changes in the Raman and elastic-scattering signals from CD8+ T cells stimulated with either Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) or phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). In both cases, results obtained from the IRAM instrument correlate well with results obtained from traditional fluorescence-based flow cytometry for paired samples. SEB-mediated activation was distinguished from resting state in CD8+ T cells by an increase in the number and mean size of small (∼500-nm) elastic scatterers as well as a decrease in Raman bands, indicating changes in nuclear content. PMA-mediated activation induced a different profile in CD8+ T cells from SEB, showing a similar increase in small elastic scatterers but a different Raman change, with elevation of cellular protein and lipid bands. These results suggest the potential of this multimodal, label-free optical technique for studying processes in single cells. PMID:20615023

Separating the signal from the noise: Expanding flow cytometry into the sub-micron range.

EPA Science Inventory

Cytometry Part A Special Section: Separating the signal from the noise: Expanding flow cytometry into the sub-micron range. The current Cytometry Part A Special Section presents three studies that utilize cytometers to study sub-micron particles. The three studies involve the 1...

Final Report Nucleic Acid System - Hybrid PCR and Multiplex Assay Project Phase 2

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koopman, R P; Langlois, R G; Nasarabadi, S

2002-04-17

This report covers phase 2 (year 2) of the Nucleic Acid System--Hybrid PCR and Multiplex Assay project. The objective of the project is to reduce to practice the detection and identification of biological warfare pathogens by the nucleic acid recognition technique of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) in a multiplex mode using flow cytometry. The Hybrid instrument consists of a flow-through PCR module capable of handling a multiplexed PCR assay, a hybridizing module capable of hybridizing multiplexed PCR amplicons and beads, and a flow cytometer module for bead-based identification, all controlled by a single computer. Multiplex immunoassay using bead-based Luminex flowmore » cytometry is available, allowing rapid screening for many agents. PCR is highly specific and complements and verifies immunoassay. It can also be multiplexed and detection provided using the bead-based Luminex flow cytometer. This approach allows full access to the speed and 100-fold multiplex capability of flow cytometry for rapid screening as well as the accuracy and specificity of PCR. This project has two principal activities: (1) Design, build and test a prototype hybrid PCR/flow cytometer with the basic capabilities for rapid, broad spectrum detection and identification, and (2) Develop and evaluate multiplex flow analysis assay protocols and reagents for the simultaneous detection of PCR products. This project requires not only building operationally functional instrumentation but also developing the chemical assays for detection of priority pathogens. This involves development and evaluation of multiplex flow analysis assay protocols and reagents for the simultaneous detection of PCR products.« less

Inertial focusing in a straight channel with asymmetrical expansion-contraction cavity arrays using two secondary flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, J.; Li, M.; Li, W. H.; Alici, G.

2013-08-01

The focusing of particles has a variety of applications in industry and biomedicine, including wastewater purification, fermentation filtration, and pathogen detection in flow cytometry, etc. In this paper a novel inertial microfluidic device using two secondary flows to focus particles is presented. The geometry of the proposed microfluidic channel is a simple straight channel with asymmetrically patterned triangular expansion-contraction cavity arrays. Three different focusing patterns were observed under different flow conditions: (1) a single focusing streak on the cavity side; (2) double focusing streaks on both sides; (3) half of the particles were focused on the opposite side of the cavity, while the other particles were trapped by a horizontal vortex in the cavity. The focusing performance was studied comprehensively up to flow rates of 700 µl min-1. The focusing mechanism was investigated by analysing the balance of forces between the inertial lift forces and secondary flow drag in the cross section. The influence of particle size and cavity geometry on the focusing performance was also studied. The experimental results showed that more precise focusing could be obtained with large particles, some of which even showed a single-particle focusing streak in the horizontal plane. Meanwhile, the focusing patterns and their working conditions could be adjusted by the geometry of the cavity. This novel inertial microfluidic device could offer a continuous, sheathless, and high-throughput performance, which can be potentially applied to high-speed flow cytometry or the extraction of blood cells.

FuGEFlow: data model and markup language for flow cytometry.

PubMed

Qian, Yu; Tchuvatkina, Olga; Spidlen, Josef; Wilkinson, Peter; Gasparetto, Maura; Jones, Andrew R; Manion, Frank J; Scheuermann, Richard H; Sekaly, Rafick-Pierre; Brinkman, Ryan R

2009-06-16

Flow cytometry technology is widely used in both health care and research. The rapid expansion of flow cytometry applications has outpaced the development of data storage and analysis tools. Collaborative efforts being taken to eliminate this gap include building common vocabularies and ontologies, designing generic data models, and defining data exchange formats. The Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt) standard was recently adopted by the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. This standard guides researchers on the information that should be included in peer reviewed publications, but it is insufficient for data exchange and integration between computational systems. The Functional Genomics Experiment (FuGE) formalizes common aspects of comprehensive and high throughput experiments across different biological technologies. We have extended FuGE object model to accommodate flow cytometry data and metadata. We used the MagicDraw modelling tool to design a UML model (Flow-OM) according to the FuGE extension guidelines and the AndroMDA toolkit to transform the model to a markup language (Flow-ML). We mapped each MIFlowCyt term to either an existing FuGE class or to a new FuGEFlow class. The development environment was validated by comparing the official FuGE XSD to the schema we generated from the FuGE object model using our configuration. After the Flow-OM model was completed, the final version of the Flow-ML was generated and validated against an example MIFlowCyt compliant experiment description. The extension of FuGE for flow cytometry has resulted in a generic FuGE-compliant data model (FuGEFlow), which accommodates and links together all information required by MIFlowCyt. The FuGEFlow model can be used to build software and databases using FuGE software toolkits to facilitate automated exchange and manipulation of potentially large flow cytometry experimental data sets. Additional project documentation, including reusable design patterns and a guide for setting up a development environment, was contributed back to the FuGE project. We have shown that an extension of FuGE can be used to transform minimum information requirements in natural language to markup language in XML. Extending FuGE required significant effort, but in our experiences the benefits outweighed the costs. The FuGEFlow is expected to play a central role in describing flow cytometry experiments and ultimately facilitating data exchange including public flow cytometry repositories currently under development.

The role of RhD agglutination for the detection of weak D red cells by anti-D flow cytometry.

PubMed

Grey, D E; Davies, J I; Connolly, M; Fong, E A; Erber, W N

2005-04-01

Anti-D flow cytometry is an accurate method for quantifying feto-maternal haemorrhage (FMH). However, weak D red cells with <1000 RhD sites are not detectable using this methodology but are immunogenic. As quantitation of RhD sites is not practical, an alternative approach is required to identify those weak D fetal red cells where anti-D flow cytometry is inappropriate. We describe a simple algorithm based on RhD agglutination and flow cytometry peak separation. All weak D (n = 34) gave weak agglutination with RUM-1 on immediate spin (grading

Flow Cytometry and Solid Organ Transplantation: A Perfect Match

PubMed Central

Maguire, Orla; Tario, Joseph D.; Shanahan, Thomas C.; Wallace, Paul K.; Minderman, Hans

2015-01-01

In the field of transplantation, flow cytometry serves a well-established role in pre-transplant crossmatching and monitoring immune reconstitution following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The capabilities of flow cytometers have continuously expanded and this combined with more detailed knowledge of the constituents of the immune system, their function and interaction and newly developed reagents to study these parameters have led to additional utility of flow cytometry-based analyses, particularly in the post-transplant setting. This review discusses the impact of flow cytometry on managing alloantigen reactions, monitoring opportunistic infections and graft rejection and gauging immunosuppression in the context of solid organ transplantation. PMID:25296232

Scalable clustering algorithms for continuous environmental flow cytometry.

PubMed

Hyrkas, Jeremy; Clayton, Sophie; Ribalet, Francois; Halperin, Daniel; Armbrust, E Virginia; Howe, Bill

2016-02-01

Recent technological innovations in flow cytometry now allow oceanographers to collect high-frequency flow cytometry data from particles in aquatic environments on a scale far surpassing conventional flow cytometers. The SeaFlow cytometer continuously profiles microbial phytoplankton populations across thousands of kilometers of the surface ocean. The data streams produced by instruments such as SeaFlow challenge the traditional sample-by-sample approach in cytometric analysis and highlight the need for scalable clustering algorithms to extract population information from these large-scale, high-frequency flow cytometers. We explore how available algorithms commonly used for medical applications perform at classification of such a large-scale, environmental flow cytometry data. We apply large-scale Gaussian mixture models to massive datasets using Hadoop. This approach outperforms current state-of-the-art cytometry classification algorithms in accuracy and can be coupled with manual or automatic partitioning of data into homogeneous sections for further classification gains. We propose the Gaussian mixture model with partitioning approach for classification of large-scale, high-frequency flow cytometry data. Source code available for download at https://github.com/jhyrkas/seaflow_cluster, implemented in Java for use with Hadoop. hyrkas@cs.washington.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Measurement of Lipid Accumulation in Chlorella vulgaris via Flow Cytometry and Liquid-State ¹H NMR Spectroscopy for Development of an NMR-Traceable Flow Cytometry Protocol

PubMed Central

Bono Jr., Michael S.; Garcia, Ravi D.; Sri-Jayantha, Dylan V.; Ahner, Beth A.; Kirby, Brian J.

2015-01-01

In this study, we cultured Chlorella vulgaris cells with a range of lipid contents, induced via nitrogen starvation, and characterized them via flow cytometry, with BODIPY 505/515 as a fluorescent lipid label, and liquid-state 1H NMR spectroscopy. In doing so, we demonstrate the utility of calibrating flow cytometric measurements of algal lipid content using triacylglyceride (TAG, also known as triacylglycerol or triglyceride) content per cell as measured via quantitative 1H NMR. Ensemble-averaged fluorescence of BODIPY-labeled cells was highly correlated with average TAG content per cell measured by bulk NMR, with a linear regression yielding a linear fit with r 2 = 0.9974. This correlation compares favorably to previous calibrations of flow cytometry protocols to lipid content measured via extraction, and calibration by NMR avoids the time and complexity that is generally required for lipid quantitation via extraction. Flow cytometry calibrated to a direct measurement of TAG content can be used to investigate the distribution of lipid contents for cells within a culture. Our flow cytometry measurements showed that Chlorella vulgaris cells subjected to nitrogen limitation exhibited higher mean lipid content but a wider distribution of lipid content that overlapped the relatively narrow distribution of lipid content for replete cells, suggesting that nitrogen limitation induces lipid accumulation in only a subset of cells. Calibration of flow cytometry protocols using direct in situ measurement of TAG content via NMR will facilitate rapid development of more precise flow cytometry protocols, enabling investigation of algal lipid accumulation for development of more productive algal biofuel feedstocks and cultivation protocols. PMID:26267664

Measurement of lipid accumulation in Chlorella vulgaris via flow cytometry and liquid-state ¹H NMR spectroscopy for development of an NMR-traceable flow cytometry protocol.

PubMed

Bono, Michael S; Garcia, Ravi D; Sri-Jayantha, Dylan V; Ahner, Beth A; Kirby, Brian J

2015-01-01

In this study, we cultured Chlorella vulgaris cells with a range of lipid contents, induced via nitrogen starvation, and characterized them via flow cytometry, with BODIPY 505/515 as a fluorescent lipid label, and liquid-state 1H NMR spectroscopy. In doing so, we demonstrate the utility of calibrating flow cytometric measurements of algal lipid content using triacylglyceride (TAG, also known as triacylglycerol or triglyceride) content per cell as measured via quantitative 1H NMR. Ensemble-averaged fluorescence of BODIPY-labeled cells was highly correlated with average TAG content per cell measured by bulk NMR, with a linear regression yielding a linear fit with r2 = 0.9974. This correlation compares favorably to previous calibrations of flow cytometry protocols to lipid content measured via extraction, and calibration by NMR avoids the time and complexity that is generally required for lipid quantitation via extraction. Flow cytometry calibrated to a direct measurement of TAG content can be used to investigate the distribution of lipid contents for cells within a culture. Our flow cytometry measurements showed that Chlorella vulgaris cells subjected to nitrogen limitation exhibited higher mean lipid content but a wider distribution of lipid content that overlapped the relatively narrow distribution of lipid content for replete cells, suggesting that nitrogen limitation induces lipid accumulation in only a subset of cells. Calibration of flow cytometry protocols using direct in situ measurement of TAG content via NMR will facilitate rapid development of more precise flow cytometry protocols, enabling investigation of algal lipid accumulation for development of more productive algal biofuel feedstocks and cultivation protocols.

Application of a Short Intracellular pH Method to Flow Cytometry for Determining Saccharomyces cerevisiae Vitality ▿

PubMed Central

Weigert, Claudia; Steffler, Fabian; Kurz, Tomas; Shellhammer, Thomas H.; Methner, Frank-Jürgen

2009-01-01

The measurement of yeast's intracellular pH (ICP) is a proven method for determining yeast vitality. Vitality describes the condition or health of viable cells as opposed to viability, which defines living versus dead cells. In contrast to fluorescence photometric measurements, which show only average ICP values of a population, flow cytometry allows the presentation of an ICP distribution. By examining six repeated propagations with three separate growth phases (lag, exponential, and stationary), the ICP method previously established for photometry was transferred successfully to flow cytometry by using the pH-dependent fluorescent probe 5,6-carboxyfluorescein. The correlation between the two methods was good (r2 = 0.898, n = 18). With both methods it is possible to track the course of growth phases. Although photometry did not yield significant differences between exponentially and stationary phases (P = 0.433), ICP via flow cytometry did (P = 0.012). Yeast in an exponential phase has a unimodal ICP distribution, reflective of a homogeneous population; however, yeast in a stationary phase displays a broader ICP distribution, and subpopulations could be defined by using the flow cytometry method. In conclusion, flow cytometry yielded specific evidence of the heterogeneity in vitality of a yeast population as measured via ICP. In contrast to photometry, flow cytometry increases information about the yeast population's vitality via a short measurement, which is suitable for routine analysis. PMID:19581482

The development and validation of different decision-making tools to predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter.

PubMed

Müller, Martin; Seidenberg, Ruth; Schuh, Sabine K; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K; Schechter, Clyde B; Leichtle, Alexander B; Hautz, Wolf E

2018-01-01

Patients presenting with suspected urinary tract infection are common in every day emergency practice. Urine flow cytometry has replaced microscopic urine evaluation in many emergency departments, but interpretation of the results remains challenging. The aim of this study was to develop and validate tools that predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter. This retrospective study included all adult patients that presented in a large emergency department between January and July 2017 with a suspected urinary tract infection and had a urine flow cytometry as well as a urine culture obtained. The objective was to identify urine flow cytometry parameters that reliably predict urine culture growth and mixed flora growth. The data set was split into a training (70%) and a validation set (30%) and different decision-making approaches were developed and validated. Relevant urine culture growth (respectively mixed flora growth) was found in 40.2% (7.2% respectively) of the 613 patients included. The number of leukocytes and bacteria in flow cytometry were highly associated with urine culture growth, but mixed flora growth could not be sufficiently predicted from the urine flow cytometry parameters. A decision tree, predictive value figures, a nomogram, and a cut-off table to predict urine culture growth from bacteria and leukocyte count were developed, validated and compared. Urine flow cytometry parameters are insufficient to predict mixed flora growth. However, the prediction of urine culture growth based on bacteria and leukocyte count is highly accurate and the developed tools should be used as part of the decision-making process of ordering a urine culture or starting an antibiotic therapy if a urogenital infection is suspected.

The development and validation of different decision-making tools to predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter

PubMed Central

Seidenberg, Ruth; Schuh, Sabine K.; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis K.; Schechter, Clyde B.; Leichtle, Alexander B.; Hautz, Wolf E.

2018-01-01

Objective Patients presenting with suspected urinary tract infection are common in every day emergency practice. Urine flow cytometry has replaced microscopic urine evaluation in many emergency departments, but interpretation of the results remains challenging. The aim of this study was to develop and validate tools that predict urine culture growth out of urine flow cytometry parameter. Methods This retrospective study included all adult patients that presented in a large emergency department between January and July 2017 with a suspected urinary tract infection and had a urine flow cytometry as well as a urine culture obtained. The objective was to identify urine flow cytometry parameters that reliably predict urine culture growth and mixed flora growth. The data set was split into a training (70%) and a validation set (30%) and different decision-making approaches were developed and validated. Results Relevant urine culture growth (respectively mixed flora growth) was found in 40.2% (7.2% respectively) of the 613 patients included. The number of leukocytes and bacteria in flow cytometry were highly associated with urine culture growth, but mixed flora growth could not be sufficiently predicted from the urine flow cytometry parameters. A decision tree, predictive value figures, a nomogram, and a cut-off table to predict urine culture growth from bacteria and leukocyte count were developed, validated and compared. Conclusions Urine flow cytometry parameters are insufficient to predict mixed flora growth. However, the prediction of urine culture growth based on bacteria and leukocyte count is highly accurate and the developed tools should be used as part of the decision-making process of ordering a urine culture or starting an antibiotic therapy if a urogenital infection is suspected. PMID:29474463

Novel full-spectral flow cytometry with multiple spectrally-adjacent fluorescent proteins and fluorochromes and visualization of in vivo cellular movement.

PubMed

Futamura, Koji; Sekino, Masashi; Hata, Akihiro; Ikebuchi, Ryoyo; Nakanishi, Yasutaka; Egawa, Gyohei; Kabashima, Kenji; Watanabe, Takeshi; Furuki, Motohiro; Tomura, Michio

2015-09-01

Flow cytometric analysis with multicolor fluoroprobes is an essential method for detecting biological signatures of cells. Here, we present a new full-spectral flow cytometer (spectral-FCM). Unlike conventional flow cytometer, this spectral-FCM acquires the emitted fluorescence for all probes across the full-spectrum from each cell with 32 channels sequential PMT unit after dispersion with prism, and extracts the signals of each fluoroprobe based on the spectral shape of each fluoroprobe using unique algorithm in high speed, high sensitive, accurate, automatic and real-time. The spectral-FCM detects the continuous changes in emission spectra from green to red of the photoconvertible protein, KikGR with high-spectral resolution and separates spectrally-adjacent fluoroprobes, such as FITC (Emission peak (Em) 519 nm) and EGFP (Em 507 nm). Moreover, the spectral-FCM can measure and subtract autofluorescence of each cell providing increased signal-to-noise ratios and improved resolution of dim samples, which leads to a transformative technology for investigation of single cell state and function. These advances make it possible to perform 11-color fluorescence analysis to visualize movement of multilinage immune cells by using KikGR-expressing mice. Thus, the novel spectral flow cytometry improves the combinational use of spectrally-adjacent various FPs and multicolor fluorochromes in metabolically active cell for the investigation of not only the immune system but also other research and clinical fields of use. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

[Which technique should be used in the phenotyping of lymphocytic alveolitis: Immunocytochemistry or flow cytometry].

PubMed

Mlika, Mona; Kasmi, Rihem; Safra, Ines; Braham, Emna; Chebbi, Chokri; Mezni, Faouzi El

2017-10-01

Diffuse interstitial pneumonias are considered as a group of multiple affections characterized by challenging diagnoses because of the lack of specific clinical signs. Radiologic investigations highlight the diagnoses in most of the cases but bronchoalveolar lavage plays a key role in the diagnostic diagram. We aim to compare the immunocytochemical technique and the flow cytometry in the phenotyping of lymphocytic alveolitis. We described a series of 32 lymphocytic alveolitis, which were analyzed using immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. We found a good reproducibility between the immunocytochemistry performed on smears and cytoblocks (kappa=0.7) and a poor reproducibility between immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry (kappa=0.35). Our study emphasized on the poor reproducibility between immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. Further studies about the reliability of both techniques are needed especially in discordant cases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

miRNA detection at single-cell resolution using microfluidic LNA flow-FISH

DOE PAGES

Wu, Meiye; Piccini, Matthew Ernest; Koh, Chung -Yan; ...

2014-08-20

Flow cytometry in combination with fluorescent in situ hybridization (flow-FISH) is a powerful technique that can be utilized to rapidly detect nucleic acids at single-cell resolution without the need for homogenization or nucleic acid extraction. Here, we describe a microfluidic-based method which enables the detection of microRNAs or miRNAs in single intact cells by flow-FISH using locked nucleic acid (LNA)-containing probes. Our method can be applied to all RNA species including mRNA and small noncoding RNA and is suitable for multiplexing with protein immunostaining in the same cell. For demonstration of our method, this chapter details the detection of miR155more » and CD69 protein in PMA and ionomycin-stimulated Jurkat cells. Here, we also include instructions on how to set up a microfluidic chip sample preparation station to prepare cells for imaging and analysis on a commercial flow cytometer or a custom-built micro-flow cytometer.« less

FuGEFlow: data model and markup language for flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Qian, Yu; Tchuvatkina, Olga; Spidlen, Josef; Wilkinson, Peter; Gasparetto, Maura; Jones, Andrew R; Manion, Frank J; Scheuermann, Richard H; Sekaly, Rafick-Pierre; Brinkman, Ryan R

2009-01-01

Background Flow cytometry technology is widely used in both health care and research. The rapid expansion of flow cytometry applications has outpaced the development of data storage and analysis tools. Collaborative efforts being taken to eliminate this gap include building common vocabularies and ontologies, designing generic data models, and defining data exchange formats. The Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt) standard was recently adopted by the International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. This standard guides researchers on the information that should be included in peer reviewed publications, but it is insufficient for data exchange and integration between computational systems. The Functional Genomics Experiment (FuGE) formalizes common aspects of comprehensive and high throughput experiments across different biological technologies. We have extended FuGE object model to accommodate flow cytometry data and metadata. Methods We used the MagicDraw modelling tool to design a UML model (Flow-OM) according to the FuGE extension guidelines and the AndroMDA toolkit to transform the model to a markup language (Flow-ML). We mapped each MIFlowCyt term to either an existing FuGE class or to a new FuGEFlow class. The development environment was validated by comparing the official FuGE XSD to the schema we generated from the FuGE object model using our configuration. After the Flow-OM model was completed, the final version of the Flow-ML was generated and validated against an example MIFlowCyt compliant experiment description. Results The extension of FuGE for flow cytometry has resulted in a generic FuGE-compliant data model (FuGEFlow), which accommodates and links together all information required by MIFlowCyt. The FuGEFlow model can be used to build software and databases using FuGE software toolkits to facilitate automated exchange and manipulation of potentially large flow cytometry experimental data sets. Additional project documentation, including reusable design patterns and a guide for setting up a development environment, was contributed back to the FuGE project. Conclusion We have shown that an extension of FuGE can be used to transform minimum information requirements in natural language to markup language in XML. Extending FuGE required significant effort, but in our experiences the benefits outweighed the costs. The FuGEFlow is expected to play a central role in describing flow cytometry experiments and ultimately facilitating data exchange including public flow cytometry repositories currently under development. PMID:19531228

Visualization of Pulmonary Clearance Mechanisms via Noninvasive Optical Imaging Validated by Near-Infrared Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Zhou, Haiying; Gunsten, Sean P.; Zhegalova, Natalia G.; Bloch, Sharon; Achilefu, Samuel; Holley, J. Christopher; Schweppe, Daniel; Akers, Walter; Brody, Steven L.; Eades, William; Berezin, Mikhail Y.

2016-01-01

In vivo optical imaging with near-infrared (NIR) probes is an established method of diagnostics in preclinical and clinical studies. However, the specificities of these probes are difficult to validate ex vivo due to the lack of NIR flow cytometry. To address this limitation, we modified a flow cytometer to include an additional NIR channel using a 752 nm laser line. The flow cytometry system was tested using NIR microspheres and cell lines labeled with a combination of visible range and NIR fluorescent dyes. The approach was verified in vivo in mice evaluated for immune response in lungs after intratracheal delivery of the NIR contrast agent. Flow cytometry of cells obtained from the lung bronchoalveolar lavage demonstrated that the NIR dye was taken up by pulmonary macrophages as early as four-hours post-injection. This combination of optical imaging with NIR flow cytometry extends the capability of imaging and enables complementation of in vivo imaging with cell-specific studies. PMID:25808737

DAFi: A directed recursive data filtering and clustering approach for improving and interpreting data clustering identification of cell populations from polychromatic flow cytometry data.

PubMed

Lee, Alexandra J; Chang, Ivan; Burel, Julie G; Lindestam Arlehamn, Cecilia S; Mandava, Aishwarya; Weiskopf, Daniela; Peters, Bjoern; Sette, Alessandro; Scheuermann, Richard H; Qian, Yu

2018-04-17

Computational methods for identification of cell populations from polychromatic flow cytometry data are changing the paradigm of cytometry bioinformatics. Data clustering is the most common computational approach to unsupervised identification of cell populations from multidimensional cytometry data. However, interpretation of the identified data clusters is labor-intensive. Certain types of user-defined cell populations are also difficult to identify by fully automated data clustering analysis. Both are roadblocks before a cytometry lab can adopt the data clustering approach for cell population identification in routine use. We found that combining recursive data filtering and clustering with constraints converted from the user manual gating strategy can effectively address these two issues. We named this new approach DAFi: Directed Automated Filtering and Identification of cell populations. Design of DAFi preserves the data-driven characteristics of unsupervised clustering for identifying novel cell subsets, but also makes the results interpretable to experimental scientists through mapping and merging the multidimensional data clusters into the user-defined two-dimensional gating hierarchy. The recursive data filtering process in DAFi helped identify small data clusters which are otherwise difficult to resolve by a single run of the data clustering method due to the statistical interference of the irrelevant major clusters. Our experiment results showed that the proportions of the cell populations identified by DAFi, while being consistent with those by expert centralized manual gating, have smaller technical variances across samples than those from individual manual gating analysis and the nonrecursive data clustering analysis. Compared with manual gating segregation, DAFi-identified cell populations avoided the abrupt cut-offs on the boundaries. DAFi has been implemented to be used with multiple data clustering methods including K-means, FLOCK, FlowSOM, and the ClusterR package. For cell population identification, DAFi supports multiple options including clustering, bisecting, slope-based gating, and reversed filtering to meet various autogating needs from different scientific use cases. © 2018 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. © 2018 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Rapid differentiation of cocci/mixed bacteria from rods in voided urine culture of women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections.

PubMed

Yang, Chun-Chun; Yang, Stephen Shei-Dei; Hung, Hui-Ching; Chiang, I-Ni; Peng, Chiung-Hui; Chang, Shang-Jen

2017-09-01

To evaluate the ability of laser flow cytometry to predict cocci/mixed growth in the pre-analytical phase of urine specimens. We retrospectively reviewed urine samples from women with uncomplicated urinary tract infections from urologic clinics for study. Urine analyses were performed with laser flow cytometry (UF1000i, Sysmex, Kobe, Japan) and then diagrams were generated (forward scatter vs. fluorescent light scatter). Each specimen (bacteria count >357 BACT/μL) was classified as either cocci bacteria or rods/mixed growth according to the diagrams. Standard urine cultures were performed, and the agreement between cultures and the UF1000i interpretations was analyzed with kappa statistics. Finally, 491 specimens met the criteria for analysis. Among the 376 specimens with single bacteria growth, there were 26 gram-positive cocci (13 Streptococci spp., 7 Staphylococci spp., 6 Enterococci spp.), 1 gram-positive rods (Corynebacterium spp.), and 349 gram-negative rods (273 Escherichia coli, 33 Klebsiella spp., 29 Proteus spp., 6 Citrobacter spp., 4 Enterobacter spp., 3 Pseudomonas spp., and 1 Providencia spp.). There were 115 specimens with two bacteria species or more that were regarded as mixed growth. Agreement of rods or cocci/mixed growth between the laser flow cytometry and urine cultures yielded a kappa value of 0.58. The positive and negative predictive rate of the UF1000i for cocci/mixed growth in voided urine culture was 81.8% and 84.7%, respectively. Through laser flow cytometry, we can predict growth of cocci/mixed growth in the pre-analytical phase of urine culture, thus avoiding unnecessary urine culture and waiting time. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evaluation of Ultrasound-Induced Damage to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by Flow Cytometry and Transmission Electron Microscopy

PubMed Central

Li, Jiao; Ahn, Juhee; Liu, Donghong; Chen, Shiguo; Ye, Xingqian

2016-01-01

As a nonthermal sterilization technique, ultrasound has attracted great interest in the field of food preservation. In this study, flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy were employed to investigate ultrasound-induced damage to Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. For flow cytometry studies, single staining with propidium iodide (PI) or carboxyfluorescein diacetate (cFDA) revealed that ultrasound treatment caused cell death by compromising membrane integrity, inactivating intracellular esterases, and inhibiting metabolic performance. The results showed that ultrasound damage was independent of initial bacterial concentrations, while the mechanism of cellular damage differed according to the bacterial species. For the Gram-negative bacterium E. coli, ultrasound worked first on the outer membrane rather than the cytoplasmic membrane. Based on the double-staining results, we inferred that ultrasound treatment might be an all-or-nothing process: cells ruptured and disintegrated by ultrasound cannot be revived, which can be considered an advantage of ultrasound over other nonthermal techniques. Transmission electron microscopy studies revealed that the mechanism of ultrasound-induced damage was multitarget inactivation, involving the cell wall, cytoplasmic membrane, and inner structure. Understanding of the irreversible antibacterial action of ultrasound has great significance for its further utilization in the food industry. PMID:26746712

Consistency of the initial cell acquisition procedure is critical to the standardization of CD34+ cell enumeration by flow cytometry: results of a pairwise analysis of umbilical cord blood units and cryopreserved aliquots.

PubMed

Flores, Ana I; McKenna, David H; Montalbán, M Angeles; De la Cruz, Javier; Wagner, John E; Bornstein, Rafael

2009-04-01

The CD34+ cell content is a predictive factor for engraftment and survival after umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation. The high variability in the CD34 assay results in different recommended cell doses for infusion across transplant centers and also limits the clinical utility of the CD34+ cell counts provided by cord blood banks (CBBs). This bi-institutional study was intended to understand the sources of this variability. The level of CD34 agreement between the University of Minnesota (UM) and the Madrid CBB (MCBB) was evaluated on 50 UCB units before and after cryopreservation. Two cryopreserved vials per unit were thawed and processed at both laboratories. Dual-platform ISHAGE-based flow cytometry was used for CD34 enumeration. Postthaw nucleated cell recoveries were similar. However, whereas CD34+ cell enumeration before freezing was 0.35 +/- 0.22 percent, the results after thawing were 0.98 +/- 0.65 and 0.57 +/- 0.39 percent at UM and MCBB, respectively. Bland-Altman plots analysis ruled out the interchangeability of MCBB and UM CD34 values. Differences in the initial cell acquisition settings accounted for most of the CD34 discrepancy, which was no longer present after normalization of the forward scatter threshold for cell acquisition. The standardization of CD34+ cell enumeration by flow cytometry is strongly reliant on a consistent initial cell acquisition procedure. The interlaboratory variation can be minimized by using frozen cell aliquots as reference samples. Both requisites should be considered for CD34 testing and UCB unit selection by regulatory institutions involved with cord blood banking and transplantation.

Microfluidic flow rate detection based on integrated optical fiber cantilever.

PubMed

Lien, Victor; Vollmer, Frank

2007-10-01

We demonstrate an integrated microfluidic flow sensor with ultra-wide dynamic range, suitable for high throughput applications such as flow cytometry and particle sorting/counting. A fiber-tip cantilever transduces flow rates to optical signal readout, and we demonstrate a dynamic range from 0 to 1500 microL min(-1) for operation in water. Fiber-optic sensor alignment is guided by preformed microfluidic channels, and the dynamic range can be adjusted in a one-step chemical etch. An overall non-linear response is attributed to the far-field angular distribution of single-mode fiber output.

Biomarkers of Selenium Chemoprevention of Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

than Se-Met in inhibiting Flow Kit from BD Pharmigen (San Diego, CA). Stained cells were then quantified by flow cytometry , and the data were analyzed...decrease in Quantitation of Apoptosis by Flow Cytometry . PC-3 cells were plated at cell number accumulation by MSA was related to cell cycle arrest, we... flow exposed to either 5 or 10Mm MSA for 48 or 72 h. Adherent cells harvested by mild cytometry of ethanol-permeabilized cells stained with Pl. Synchro

A Study of the Effects of High Power Pulsed 2450 MHz Microwaves, ELF modulated Microwaves, and ELF Fields on Human Lymphocytes and Selected Cell Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-27

Considerable effect was expended in investigating shifts in intercellular calcium of one particular cell line, Jurket, using flow cytometry methods. No...culture. The following analysis were used to characterize the immortalized cell lines: flow cytometry , electron microscopy, two-dimensional protein gel...further characterized by flow cytometry , electron microscopy, two dimensional protein electrophoresis and nuclear run-off assay. Flow cytometric analysis of

Immunoglobulin light chain allelic inclusion in systemic lupus erythematosus

PubMed Central

Fraser, Louise D.; Zhao, Yuan; Lutalo, Pamela M. K.; D'Cruz, David P.; Cason, John; Silva, Joselli S.; Dunn‐Walters, Deborah K.; Nayar, Saba; Cope, Andrew P.

2015-01-01

The principles of allelic exclusion state that each B cell expresses a single light and heavy chain pair. Here, we show that B cells with both kappa and lambda light chains (Igκ and Igλ) are enriched in some patients with the systemic autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but not in the systemic autoimmune disease control granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Detection of dual Igκ and Igλ expression by flow cytometry could not be abolished by acid washing or by DNAse treatment to remove any bound polyclonal antibody or complexes, and was retained after two days in culture. Both surface and intracytoplasmic dual light chain expression was evident by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. We observed reduced frequency of rearrangements of the kappa‐deleting element (KDE) in SLE and an inverse correlation between the frequency of KDE rearrangement and the frequency of dual light chain expressing B cells. We propose that dual expression of Igκ and Igλ by a single B cell may occur in some patients with SLE when this may be a consequence of reduced activity of the KDE. PMID:26036683

A Novel Quantitative Kinase Assay Using Bacterial Surface Display and Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Henriques, Sónia Troeira; Thorstholm, Louise; Huang, Yen-Hua; Getz, Jennifer A.; Daugherty, Patrick S.; Craik, David J.

2013-01-01

The inhibition of tyrosine kinases is a successful approach for the treatment of cancers and the discovery of kinase inhibitor drugs is the focus of numerous academic and pharmaceutical laboratories. With this goal in mind, several strategies have been developed to measure kinase activity and to screen novel tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Nevertheless, a general non-radioactive and inexpensive approach, easy to implement and adapt to a range of applications, is still missing. Herein, using Bcr-Abl tyrosine kinase, an oncogenic target and a model protein for cancer studies, we describe a novel cost-effective high-throughput screening kinase assay. In this approach, named the BacKin assay, substrates displayed on a Bacterial cell surface are incubated with Kinase and their phosphorylation is examined and quantified by flow cytometry. This approach has several advantages over existing approaches, as using bacteria (i.e. Escherichia coli) to display peptide substrates provides a self renewing solid support that does not require laborious chemical strategies. Here we show that the BacKin approach can be used for kinetic and mechanistic studies, as well as a platform to characterize and identify small-molecule or peptide-based kinase inhibitors with potential applications in drug development. PMID:24260399

[Establishment of RAW264.7 cell strain stably expressing RFP-GFP-LC3].

PubMed

Wang, Wan; Zhang, Qing; Zhao, Runpeng; Xu, Xuewei; Xing, Yingru; Zhang, Rongbo; Wu, Jing; Hu, Dong

2015-09-01

To establish murine macrophage RAW264.7 cell strain with stable expression of red fluorescent protein-green fluorescent protein-microtubule associated protein light chain 3 (RFP-GFP-LC3). A lentiviral vector containing RFP-GFP-LC3 gene was constructed and then packaged in HEK293T cells with the packaging plasmids. The viral supernatant was collected to infect RAW264.7 cells. The RAW264.7 cell strain with stable expression of RFP-GFP-LC3 was screened with puromycin and analyzed with flow cytometry and fluorescent microscopy for infection efficiency. The number of RFP-GFP-LC3 puncta was observed using florescence microscopy following starvation treatment. The recombinant lentivirus pLV-CMV-RFP-GFP-LC3 was successfully constructed. The RAW264.7 cells with stable expression of RFP-GFP-LC3 were obtained by viral infection and puromycin screening. Fluorescent microscopy and flow cytometry demonstrated the expression rates of RFP and GFP reached to 100%. The number of autophagic puncta significantly increased after starvation treatment. The RAW264.7 cell strain with stable expression of RFP-GFP-LC3 has been successfully constructed, which provides a reliable cellular platform for autophagy research.

Systems biology and clinical cytomics: The 10th Leipziger Workshop and the 3rd International Workshop on Slide-Based Cytometry, Leipzig, Germany, April 2005.

PubMed

Tárnok, Attila; Valet, Günther K; Emmrich, Frank

2006-01-01

Despite very significant technical and software improvements in flow cytometry (FCM) since the 1980's, the demand for a cytometric technology combining both quantitative cell analysis and morphological documentation in Cytomics became evident. Improvements in microtechnology and computing permit nowadays similar quantitative and stoichiometric single cell-based high-throughput analyses by microscopic instruments, like Slide-Based Cytometry (SBC). SBC and related techniques offer unique tools to perform complex immunophenotyping, thereby enabling diagnostic procedures during early disease stages. Multicolor or polychromatic analysis of cells by SBC is of special importance not only as a cytomics technology platform but also because of low quantities of required reagents and biological material. The exact knowledge of the location of each cell on the slide permits repetitive restaining and reanalysis of specimens. Various separate measurements of the same specimen can be ultimately fused to one database increasing the information obtained per cell. Relocation and optical evaluation of cells as typical SBC feature, can be of integral importance for cytometric analysis, since artifacts can be excluded and morphology of measured cells can be documented. Progress in cell analytic: In the SBC, new horizons can be opened by the new techniques of structural and functional analysis with the high resolution from intracellular and membrane (confocal microscopy, nanoscopy, total internal fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM), and tissue level (tissomics), to organ and organism level (in vivo cytometry, optical whole body imaging). Predictive medicine aims at the detection of changes in patient's state prior to the manifestation of the disease or the complication. Such instances concern immune consequences of surgeries or noninfectious posttraumatic shock in intensive care patients or the pretherapeutic identification of high risk patients in cancer cytostatic therapy. Preventive anti-infectious or anti-shock therapy as well as curative chemotherapy in combination with stem cell transplantation may provide better survival chances for patient at concomitant cost containment. Predictive medicine-guided optimization of therapy could lead to individualized medicine that gives significant therapeutic effect and may lower or abrogate potential therapeutic side effects. The 10th Leipziger Workshop combined with the 3rd International Workshop on SBC aimed to offer new methods in Image- and Slide-Based Cytometry for solutions in clinical research. It moved towards practical applications in the clinics and the clinical laboratory. This development will be continued in 2006 at the upcoming Leipziger Workshop and the International Workshop on Slide-Based Cytometry.

Photothermal and photoacoustic Raman cytometry in vitro and in vivo

PubMed Central

Shashkov, Evgeny V.; Galanzha, Ekaterina I.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2010-01-01

An integrated Raman-based cytometry was developed with photothermal (PT) and photoacoustic (PA) detection of Raman-induced thermal and acoustic signals in biological samples with Raman-active vibrational modes. The two-frequency, spatially and temporally overlapping pump–Stokes excitation in counterpropagating geometry was provided by a nanosecond tunable (420–2300 nm) optical parametric oscillator and a Raman shifter (639 nm) pumped by a double-pulsed Q-switched Nd:YAG laser using microscopic and fiberoptic delivery of laser radiation. The PA and PT Raman detection and imaging technique was tested in vitro with benzene, acetone, olive oil, carbon nanotubes, chylomicron phantom, and cancer cells, and in vivo in single adipocytes in mouse mesentery model. The integration of linear and nonlinear PA and PT Raman scanning and flow cytometry has the potential to enhance its chemical specificity and sensitivity including nanobubble-based amplification (up to 10- fold) for detection of absorbing and nonabsorbing targets that are important for both basic and clinically relevant studies of lymph and blood biochemistry, cancer, and fat distribution at the single-cell level. PMID:20389713

Small lasers in flow cytometry.

PubMed

Telford, William G

2004-01-01

Laser technology has made tremendous advances in recent years, particularly in the area of diode and diode-pumped solid state sources. Flow cytometry has been a direct beneficiary of these advances, as these small, low-maintenance, inexpensive lasers with reasonable power outputs are integrated into flow cytometers. In this chapter we review the contribution and potential of solid-state lasers to flow cytometry, and show several examples of these novel sources integrated into production flow cytometers. Technical details and critical parameters for successful application of these lasers for biomedical analysis are reviewed.

Imaging cytometry in a plastic ultra-mobile system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez Vázquez, R.; Trotta, G.; Paturzo, M.; Volpe, A.; Bernava, G.; Basile, V.; Ancona, A.; Ferraro, P.; Fassi, I.; Osellame, R.

2017-03-01

We present a cost-effective and highly-portable plastic prototype that can be interfaced with a cell phone to implement an optofluidic imaging cytometry platform. It is based on a PMMA microfluidic chip that fits inside an opto-mechanical platform fabricated by a 3D printer. The fluorescence excitation and imaging is performed using the LED and the CMOS from the cell phone increasing the compactness of the system. A custom developed application is used to analyze the images and provide a value of particle concentration.

Flow cytometry as an improved method for the titration of Chlamydiaceae and other intracellular bacteria.

PubMed

Käser, T; Pasternak, J A; Hamonic, G; Rieder, M; Lai, K; Delgado-Ortega, M; Gerdts, V; Meurens, F

2016-05-01

Chlamydiaceae is a family of intracellular bacteria causing a range of diverse pathological outcomes. The most devastating human diseases are ocular infections with C. trachomatis leading to blindness and genital infections causing pelvic inflammatory disease with long-term sequelae including infertility and chronic pelvic pain. In order to enable the comparison of experiments between laboratories investigating host-chlamydia interactions, the infectious titer has to be determined. Titer determination of chlamydia is most commonly performed via microscopy of host cells infected with a serial dilution of chlamydia. However, other methods including fluorescent ELISpot (Fluorospot) and DNA Chip Scanning Technology have also been proposed to enumerate chlamydia-infected cells. For viruses, flow cytometry has been suggested as a superior alternative to standard titration methods. In this study we compared the use of flow cytometry with microscopy and Fluorospot for the titration of C. suis as a representative of other intracellular bacteria. Titer determination via Fluorospot was unreliable, while titration via microscopy led to a linear read-out range of 16 - 64 dilutions and moderate reproducibility with acceptable standard deviations within and between investigators. In contrast, flow cytometry had a vast linear read-out range of 1,024 dilutions and the lowest standard deviations given a basic training in these methods. In addition, flow cytometry was faster and material costs were lower compared to microscopy. Flow cytometry offers a fast, cheap, precise, and reproducible alternative for the titration of intracellular bacteria like C. suis. © 2016 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. © 2016 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Fundamentals of flow cytometry.

PubMed

Jaroszeski, M J; Radcliff, G

1999-02-01

Flow cytometers are instruments that are used primarily to measure the physical and biochemical characteristics of biological particles. This technology is used to perform measurements on whole cells as well as prepared cellular constituents, such as nuclei and organelles. Flow cytometers are investigative tools for a broad range of scientific disciplines because they make measurements on thousands of individual cells/particles in a matter of seconds. This is a unique advantage relative to other detection instruments that provide bulk particle measurements. Flow cytometry is a complex and highly technical field; therefore, a basic understanding of the technology is essential for all users. The purpose of this article is to provide fundamental information about the instrumentation used for flow cytometry as well as the methods used to analyze and interpret data. This information will provide a foundation to use flow cytometry effectively as a research tool.

Diagnosis of Plasma Cell Dyscrasias and Monitoring of Minimal Residual Disease by Multiparametric Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Soh, Kah Teong; Tario, Joseph D.; Wallace, Paul K.

2018-01-01

Synopsis Plasma cell dyscrasia (PCD) is a heterogeneous disease which has seen a tremendous change in outcomes due to improved therapies. Over the last few decades, multiparametric flow cytometry has played an important role in the detection and monitoring of PCDs. Flow cytometry is a high sensitivity assay for early detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) that correlates well with progression-free survival and overall survival. Before flow cytometry can be effectively implemented in the clinical setting sample preparation, panel configuration, analysis, and gating strategies must be optimized to ensure accurate results. Current consensus methods and reporting guidelines for MRD testing are discussed. PMID:29128071

Monitoring survival and function of transfused platelets in Bernard-Soulier syndrome by flow cytometry and a cone and plate(let) analyzer (Impact-R).

PubMed

Panzer, Simon; Eichelberger, Beate; Koren, Daniela; Kaufmann, Karin; Male, Christoph

2007-01-01

Bernard-Soulier syndrome (BSS) patients may repeatedly require transfusion of platelets (PLTs). The hemostatic competence of transfused PLTs requires monitoring. Flow cytometry and a cone and plate(let) analyzer (Impact-R, DiaMed) were used to monitor survival and function of transfused PLTs in a 7-year-old girl with BSS undergoing surgery. Flow cytometry was applied to differentiate autologous PLTs from transfused PLTs by staining for CD42b. The Impact, which measures PLT adhesion and aggregation in response to high shear stress, was used to evaluate PLT function. Transfused PLTs were detectable by flow cytometry for 1 week after transfusion. While the patient's PLTs did not respond to high shear stress before transfusion, a normal response was documented by the Impact on the day after transfusion and 1 week thereafter. Transfused PLTs were detectable by flow cytometry, and their functional activity was demonstrated by the Impact.

Evaluation of Leishmania species reactivity in human serologic diagnosis of leishmaniasis.

PubMed

Silvestre, Ricardo; Santarém, Nuno; Teixeira, Lúcia; Cunha, Joana; Schallig, Henk; Cordeiro-da-Silva, Anabela

2009-08-01

The sensitivities and specificities of IgG-ELISA and IgG flow cytometry based techniques using different Leishmania species were determined using sera collected from 40 cutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis patients. The flow cytometry technique, using promastigote parasite forms, performed better than total soluble extract IgG-ELISA. At the species level, the use of Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania major as antigens in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) decreased the overall sensitivity. To assess the specificity of these tests, sera from malaria, toxoplasmosis, amoebiasis, schistosomiasis, and leprosy patients were used. We also included sera from Leishmania non-infected endemic individuals. The cutaneous species displayed a decreased specificity in both assays. Although more sensitive, flow cytometry using promastigote parasite forms generally presented lower levels of specificity when compared with total extract of IgG-ELISA. Overall, the results of the study show the potential of IgG flow cytometry for the diagnosis of leishmaniasis. Although highly sensitive, a refinement of the flow cytometry method should be performed to improve the overall specificity.

A Method for the Interpretation of Flow Cytometry Data Using Genetic Algorithms.

PubMed

Angeletti, Cesar

2018-01-01

Flow cytometry analysis is the method of choice for the differential diagnosis of hematologic disorders. It is typically performed by a trained hematopathologist through visual examination of bidimensional plots, making the analysis time-consuming and sometimes too subjective. Here, a pilot study applying genetic algorithms to flow cytometry data from normal and acute myeloid leukemia subjects is described. Initially, Flow Cytometry Standard files from 316 normal and 43 acute myeloid leukemia subjects were transformed into multidimensional FITS image metafiles. Training was performed through introduction of FITS metafiles from 4 normal and 4 acute myeloid leukemia in the artificial intelligence system. Two mathematical algorithms termed 018330 and 025886 were generated. When tested against a cohort of 312 normal and 39 acute myeloid leukemia subjects, both algorithms combined showed high discriminatory power with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.912. The present results suggest that machine learning systems hold a great promise in the interpretation of hematological flow cytometry data.

Characterization of neutrophils and macrophages from ex vivo cultured murine bone marrow for morphologic maturation and functional responses by imaging flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Pelletier, Margery G. H.; Szymczak, Klaudia; Barbeau, Anna M.; Prata, Gianna N.; O’Fallon, Kevin S.; Gaines, Peter

2016-01-01

Neutrophils and macrophages differentiate from common myeloid progenitors in the bone marrow, where they undergo nuclear morphologic changes during maturation. During this process, both cell types acquire critical innate immune functions that include phagocytosis of pathogens, and for neutrophils the release of nuclear material called nuclear extracellular traps (NETs). Primary cells used to study these functions are typically purified from mature mouse tissues, but bone marrow-derived ex vivo cultures provide more abundant numbers of progenitors and functionally mature cells. Routine analyses of these cells use conventional microscopy and flow cytometry, which present limitations; microscopy is laborious and subjective, whereas flow cytometry lacks spatial resolution. Here we describe methods to generate enriched populations of neutrophils or macrophages from cryopreserved mouse bone marrow cultured ex vivo, and to use imaging flow cytometry that combines the resolution of microscopy with flow cytometry to analyze cells for morphologic features, phagocytosis, and NETosis. PMID:27663441

Development and validation of a comprehensive genomic diagnostic tool for myeloid malignancies

PubMed Central

McKerrell, Thomas; Moreno, Thaidy; Ponstingl, Hannes; Bolli, Niccolo; Dias, João M. L.; Tischler, German; Colonna, Vincenza; Manasse, Bridget; Bench, Anthony; Bloxham, David; Herman, Bram; Fletcher, Danielle; Park, Naomi; Quail, Michael A.; Manes, Nicla; Hodkinson, Clare; Baxter, Joanna; Sierra, Jorge; Foukaneli, Theodora; Warren, Alan J.; Chi, Jianxiang; Costeas, Paul; Rad, Roland; Huntly, Brian; Grove, Carolyn; Ning, Zemin; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Varela, Ignacio; Scott, Mike; Nomdedeu, Josep; Mustonen, Ville

2016-01-01

The diagnosis of hematologic malignancies relies on multidisciplinary workflows involving morphology, flow cytometry, cytogenetic, and molecular genetic analyses. Advances in cancer genomics have identified numerous recurrent mutations with clear prognostic and/or therapeutic significance to different cancers. In myeloid malignancies, there is a clinical imperative to test for such mutations in mainstream diagnosis; however, progress toward this has been slow and piecemeal. Here we describe Karyogene, an integrated targeted resequencing/analytical platform that detects nucleotide substitutions, insertions/deletions, chromosomal translocations, copy number abnormalities, and zygosity changes in a single assay. We validate the approach against 62 acute myeloid leukemia, 50 myelodysplastic syndrome, and 40 blood DNA samples from individuals without evidence of clonal blood disorders. We demonstrate robust detection of sequence changes in 49 genes, including difficult-to-detect mutations such as FLT3 internal-tandem and mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) partial-tandem duplications, and clinically significant chromosomal rearrangements including MLL translocations to known and unknown partners, identifying the novel fusion gene MLL-DIAPH2 in the process. Additionally, we identify most significant chromosomal gains and losses, and several copy neutral loss-of-heterozygosity mutations at a genome-wide level, including previously unreported changes such as homozygosity for DNMT3A R882 mutations. Karyogene represents a dependable genomic diagnosis platform for translational research and for the clinical management of myeloid malignancies, which can be readily adapted for use in other cancers. PMID:27121471

Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Vascular Target Discovery in Breast Cancer-Associated Angiogenesis

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-09-01

Matrigel plug and sorted by flow cytometry . Sorting of these retrieved cells based on co-expression of the GFP marker and cell- surface endothelial...express the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and clonal MSC populations can be isolated and phenotypically and genotypically analyzed by flow cytometry ...monoclonal populations of these GFP+ murine MSCs and conducted flow cytometry analysis to determine their phenotype. Specifically, we determined if

DNA polymorphism identity determination using flow cytometry

DOEpatents

Nolan, John P.; White, P. Scott; Cai, Hong

2001-01-01

DNA polymorphism identity determination using flow cytometry. Primers designed to be immobilized on microspheres are allowed to anneal to the DNA strand under investigation, and are extended by either DNA polymerase using fluorescent dideoxynucleotides or ligated by DNA ligase to fluorescent reporter oligonucleotides. The fluorescence of either the dideoxynucleotide or the reporter oligonucleotide attached to the immobilized primer is measured by flow cytometry, thereby identifying the nucleotide polymorphism on the DNA strand.

Early Detection of NSCLC Using Stromal Markers in Peripheral Blood

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-09-01

circulating myeloid cells, flow cytometry, RNA -sequencing, expression profiling. 3. ACCOMPLISHMENTS:  What were the major goals of the project...Subtask 2: Flow cytometry sorting of circulating myeloid cells. Subtask 3: RNA -Sequencing Subtask 4: RNA -seq data analysis Subtask 5: Feasible RT-PCR...accomplished the patient recruitment, flow cytometry sorting of circulating myeloid cells, RNA -sequencing of the samples. During the RNA - seq data analysis, we

Multiparametric flow cytometry in the diagnosis and characterization of low-grade pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas.

PubMed

Zaer, F S; Braylan, R C; Zander, D S; Iturraspe, J A; Almasri, N M

1998-06-01

Primary mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas are rare neoplasms that seem to have a better prognosis than nodal lymphomas. Morphologic diagnosis of these lesions may be difficult because of features that overlap with those of benign lymphoid infiltrates. In this study, we assessed the contribution of multi-parametric flow cytometry in demonstrating clonality and further characterizing pulmonary MALT lymphomas. Based on a clinical or pathologic suspicion of MALT-lymphoma, 3 transbronchial biopsies, 4 fine needle aspirates, 1 core needle biopsy, and 13 wedge excisions of lung were submitted fresh (unfixed) to our laboratory for evaluation. Among the 13 cases diagnosed as MALT lymphomas, B-cell monoclonality was established by identifying expression of a single immunoglobulin light chain on CD20 or CD19-positive cells in 12 cases. One case lacked expression of both light chains on B-cells. Of 11 lymphoma cases in which CD5 and CD10 surface antigens were assessed, no cases expressed CD10, and 1 case demonstrated weak CD5 expression. Nine of 10 cases studied were diploid and 1 case was hyperdiploid. All of the lymphomas displayed low (< or = 3%) S-phase fractions consistent with low grade processes. In 10 patients with short follow-up, none died of their disease and the majority had no evidence of lymphoma dissemination. In seven of the remaining eight cases, B-cells were polyclonal consistent with reactive processes. In one morphologically reactive case, flow cytometric analysis was unsuccessful because of poor cell viability. The pulmonary MALT lymphomas in this study represent a group of B-cell tumors with distinctive morphologic, immunophenotypic, and cell kinetic characteristics. Multi-parametric flow cytometry is useful for confirming B-cell monoclonality and illustrating an antigenic profile compatible with this diagnosis. Flow cytometry can be particularly helpful when working with small biopsies and cytologic samples with limited diagnostic material and may abrogate the need for more aggressive surgical procedures.

Aptamer-fluorescent silica nanoparticles bioconjugates based dual-color flow cytometry for specific detection of Staphylococcus aureus.

PubMed

He, Xiaoxiao; Li, Yuhong; He, Dinggen; Wang, Kemin; Shangguan, Jingfang; Shi, Hui

2014-07-01

This paper describes a sensitive and specific determination strategy for Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) detection using aptamer recognition and fluorescent silica nanoparticles (FSiNPs) label based dual-color flow cytometry assay (Aptamer/FSiNPs-DCFCM). In the protocol, an aptamer, having high affinity to S. aureus, was first covalently immobilized onto chloropropyl functionalized FSiNPs through a click chemistry approach to generate aptamer-nanoparticles bioconjugates (Aptamer/FSiNPs). Next, S. aureus was incubated with Aptamer/FSiNPs, and then stained with SYBR Green I (a special staining material for the duplex DNA). Upon target binding and nucleic acid staining with SYBR Green I, the S. aureus was determined using two-color flow cytometry. The method took advantage of the specificity of aptamer, signal amplification of FSiNPs label and decreased false positives of two-color flow cytometry assay. It was demonstrated that these Aptamer/FSiNPs could efficiently recognize and fluorescently label target S. aureus. Through multiparameter determination with flow cytometry, this assay allowed for detection of as low as 1.5 x 10(2) and 7.6 x 10(2) cells mL(-1) S. aureus in buffer and spiked milk, respectively, with higher sensitivity than the Aptamer/FITC based flow cytometry.

CD200 is a useful diagnostic marker for identifying atypical chronic lymphocytic leukemia by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Ting, Y S; Smith, S A B C; Brown, D A; Dodds, A J; Fay, K C; Ma, D D F; Milliken, S; Moore, J J; Sewell, W A

2018-05-27

Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry is routinely employed in distinguishing between chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Inclusion of CD200 has been reported to contribute to more reliable differentiation between CLL and MCL. We investigated the value of CD200 in assessment of atypical CLL cases. CD200 expression on mature B cell neoplasms was studied by eight-color flow cytometry in combination with a conventional panel of flow cytometry markers. The study included 70 control samples, 63 samples with CLL or atypical CLL phenotype, 6 MCL samples, and 40 samples of other mature B cell neoplasms. All CLL samples were positive for CD200, whereas MCL samples were dim or negative for CD200. Of the CLL samples, 7 were atypical by conventional flow cytometry, with Matutes scores ≤3. These cases were tested for evidence of a t(11;14) translocation, characteristic of MCL, and all were negative, consistent with their classification as atypical CLL. All these atypical CLL samples were strongly positive for CD200. CD200 proved to be a useful marker for differentiation between CLL and MCL by flow cytometry. In particular, CD200 was useful in distinguishing CLL samples with atypical immunophenotypes from MCL. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

DNA flow cytometry of human spermatozoa: consistent stoichiometric staining of sperm DNA using a novel decondensation protocol.

PubMed

Kovács, Tamás; Békési, Gyöngyi; Fábián, Akos; Rákosy, Zsuzsa; Horváth, Gábor; Mátyus, László; Balázs, Margit; Jenei, Attila

2008-10-01

Rapid flow cytometric measurement of the frequency of aneuploid human sperms is in increasing demand but development of an exploitable method is hindered by difficulties of stoichiometric staining of sperm DNA. An aggressive decondensation protocol is needed after which cell integrity still remains intact. We used flow cytometry to examine the effect of lithium diiodosalicylate (LIS, chaotropic agent) on fluorescence intensity of propidium iodide-treated human spermatozoa from 10 normozoospermic men. When flow cytometric identification of diploid spermatozoa was achieved, validation was performed after sorting by three-color FISH. In contrast with the extremely variable histograms of nondecondensed sperms, consistent identification of haploid and diploid spermatozoa was possible if samples were decondensed with LIS prior to flow cytometry. A 76-fold enrichment of diploid sperms was observed in the sorted fractions by FISH. A significant correlation was found between the proportion of sorted cells and of diploid sperms by FISH. Application of LIS during the preparation of sperm for flow cytometry appears to ensure the stoichiometric staining of sperm DNA, making quantification of aneuploid sperm percentage possible. To our knowledge this is the first report in terms of separating spermatozoa with confirmedly abnormal chromosomal content. High correlation between the proportion of cells identified as having double DNA content by flow cytometry and diploid sperm by FISH allows rapid calculation of diploidy rate. Copyright 2008 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu, Meiye; Singh, Anup K.

In this study, cell signaling is a dynamic and complex process. A typical signaling pathway may begin with activation of cell surface receptors, leading to activation kinase cascade that culminates in induction of mRNA and non-coding miRNA production in the nucleus, followed by modulation of mRNA expression by miRNAs in the cytosol, and end with production of proteins in response to the signaling pathway. Signaling pathways involve proteins, miRNA, and mRNAs, along with various forms of transient post-translational modifications, and detecting each type of signaling molecule requires categorically different sample preparation methods such as Western blotting for proteins, PCR formore » nucleic acids, and flow cytometry for post-translational modifications. Since we know that cells in populations behave heterogeneously1, especially in the cases of stem cells, cancer, and hematopoiesis, there is need for a new technology that provides capability to detect and quantify multiple categories of signaling molecules in intact single cells to provide a comprehensive view of the cell’s physiological state. In this technical brief, we describe our microfluidic platform with a portfolio of customized molecular assays that can detect nucleic acids, proteins, and post-translational modifications in single intact cells with >95% reduction in reagent requirement in under 8 hours.« less

Single-molecule analysis of the major glycopolymers of pathogenic and non-pathogenic yeast cells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Kirat-Chatel, Sofiane; Beaussart, Audrey; Alsteens, David; Sarazin, Aurore; Jouault, Thierry; Dufrêne, Yves F.

2013-05-01

Most microbes are coated with carbohydrates that show remarkable structural variability and play a crucial role in mediating microbial-host interactions. Understanding the functions of cell wall glycoconjugates requires detailed knowledge of their molecular organization, diversity and heterogeneity. Here we use atomic force microscopy (AFM) with tips bearing specific probes (lectins, antibodies) to analyze the major glycopolymers of pathogenic and non-pathogenic yeast cells at molecular resolution. We show that non-ubiquitous β-1,2-mannans are largely exposed on the surface of native cells from pathogenic Candida albicans and C. glabrata, the former species displaying the highest glycopolymer density and extensions. We also find that chitin, a major component of the inner layer of the yeast cell wall, is much more abundant in C. albicans. These differences in molecular properties, further supported by flow cytometry measurements, may play an important role in strengthening cell wall mechanics and immune interactions. This study demonstrates that single-molecule AFM, combined with immunological and fluorescence methods, is a powerful platform in fungal glycobiology for probing the density, distribution and extension of specific cell wall glycoconjugates. In nanomedicine, we anticipate that this new form of AFM-based nanoglycobiology will contribute to the development of sugar-based drugs, immunotherapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics.

Novel full‐spectral flow cytometry with multiple spectrally‐adjacent fluorescent proteins and fluorochromes and visualization of in vivo cellular movement

PubMed Central

Futamura, Koji; Sekino, Masashi; Hata, Akihiro; Ikebuchi, Ryoyo; Nakanishi, Yasutaka; Egawa, Gyohei; Kabashima, Kenji; Watanabe, Takeshi; Furuki, Motohiro

2015-01-01

Abstract Flow cytometric analysis with multicolor fluoroprobes is an essential method for detecting biological signatures of cells. Here, we present a new full‐spectral flow cytometer (spectral‐FCM). Unlike conventional flow cytometer, this spectral‐FCM acquires the emitted fluorescence for all probes across the full‐spectrum from each cell with 32 channels sequential PMT unit after dispersion with prism, and extracts the signals of each fluoroprobe based on the spectral shape of each fluoroprobe using unique algorithm in high speed, high sensitive, accurate, automatic and real‐time. The spectral‐FCM detects the continuous changes in emission spectra from green to red of the photoconvertible protein, KikGR with high‐spectral resolution and separates spectrally‐adjacent fluoroprobes, such as FITC (Emission peak (Em) 519 nm) and EGFP (Em 507 nm). Moreover, the spectral‐FCM can measure and subtract autofluorescence of each cell providing increased signal‐to‐noise ratios and improved resolution of dim samples, which leads to a transformative technology for investigation of single cell state and function. These advances make it possible to perform 11‐color fluorescence analysis to visualize movement of multilinage immune cells by using KikGR‐expressing mice. Thus, the novel spectral flow cytometry improves the combinational use of spectrally‐adjacent various FPs and multicolor fluorochromes in metabolically active cell for the investigation of not only the immune system but also other research and clinical fields of use. © 2015 The Authors. Cytometry Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of ISAC PMID:26217952

Elucidation of Seventeen Human Peripheral Blood B cell Subsets and Quantification of the Tetanus Response Using a Density-Based Method for the Automated Identification of Cell Populations in Multidimensional Flow Cytometry Data

PubMed Central

Qian, Yu; Wei, Chungwen; Lee, F. Eun-Hyung; Campbell, John; Halliley, Jessica; Lee, Jamie A.; Cai, Jennifer; Kong, Megan; Sadat, Eva; Thomson, Elizabeth; Dunn, Patrick; Seegmiller, Adam C.; Karandikar, Nitin J.; Tipton, Chris; Mosmann, Tim; Sanz, Iñaki; Scheuermann, Richard H.

2011-01-01

Background Advances in multi-parameter flow cytometry (FCM) now allow for the independent detection of larger numbers of fluorochromes on individual cells, generating data with increasingly higher dimensionality. The increased complexity of these data has made it difficult to identify cell populations from high-dimensional FCM data using traditional manual gating strategies based on single-color or two-color displays. Methods To address this challenge, we developed a novel program, FLOCK (FLOw Clustering without K), that uses a density-based clustering approach to algorithmically identify biologically relevant cell populations from multiple samples in an unbiased fashion, thereby eliminating operator-dependent variability. Results FLOCK was used to objectively identify seventeen distinct B cell subsets in a human peripheral blood sample and to identify and quantify novel plasmablast subsets responding transiently to tetanus and other vaccinations in peripheral blood. FLOCK has been implemented in the publically available Immunology Database and Analysis Portal – ImmPort (http://www.immport.org) for open use by the immunology research community. Conclusions FLOCK is able to identify cell subsets in experiments that use multi-parameter flow cytometry through an objective, automated computational approach. The use of algorithms like FLOCK for FCM data analysis obviates the need for subjective and labor intensive manual gating to identify and quantify cell subsets. Novel populations identified by these computational approaches can serve as hypotheses for further experimental study. PMID:20839340

Detection and capture of breast cancer cells with photoacoustic flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharyya, Kiran; Goldschmidt, Benjamin S.; Viator, John A.

2016-08-01

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer related deaths among women. Metastasis-the presence of secondary tumors caused by the spread of cancer cells via the circulatory or lymphatic systems-significantly worsens the prognosis of any breast cancer patient. A technique is developed to detect circulating breast cancer cells in human blood using a photoacoustic flow cytometry method. A Q-switched laser is used to interrogate thousands of blood cells with one pulse as they flow through the beam path. Cells that are optically absorbing, either naturally or artificially, emit an ultrasound wave as a result of the photoacoustic (PA) effect. Breast cancer cells are targeted with chromophores through immunochemistry in order to enhance optical absorption. After which, the PA cytometry device is calibrated to demonstrate the ability to detect single cells. Cultured breast cancer cells are added to whole blood to reach a biologically relevant concentration of about 25 to 45 breast cancer cells per 1 mL of blood. An in vitro PA flow cytometer is used to detect and isolate these cells followed by capture with the use of a micromanipulator. This method can not only be used to determine the disease state of the patient and the response to therapy but also it can be used for genetic testing and in vitro drug trials since the circulating cell can be captured and studied.

Single-Cell Protein Analysis

PubMed Central

Wu, Meiye; Singh, Anup K

2012-01-01

Heterogeneity of cellular systems has been widely recognized but only recently have tools become available that allow probing of genes and proteins in single cells to understand it. While the advancement in single cell genomic analysis has been greatly aided by the power of amplification techniques (e.g., PCR), analysis of proteins in single cells has proven to be more challenging. However, recent advances in multi-parameter flow cytometry, microfluidics and other techniques have made it possible to measure wide variety of proteins in single cells. In this review, we highlight key recent developments in analysis of proteins in a single cell, and discuss their significance in biological research. PMID:22189001

SunRiSE - measuring translation elongation at single-cell resolution by means of flow cytometry.

PubMed

Argüello, Rafael J; Reverendo, Marisa; Mendes, Andreia; Camosseto, Voahirana; Torres, Adrian G; Ribas de Pouplana, Lluis; van de Pavert, Serge A; Gatti, Evelina; Pierre, Philippe

2018-05-31

The rate at which ribosomes translate mRNAs regulates protein expression by controlling co-translational protein folding and mRNA stability. Many factors regulate translation elongation, including tRNA levels, codon usage and phosphorylation of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2). Current methods to measure translation elongation lack single-cell resolution, require expression of multiple transgenes and have never been successfully applied ex vivo Here, we show, by using a combination of puromycilation detection and flow cytometry (a method we call 'SunRiSE'), that translation elongation can be measured accurately in primary cells in pure or heterogenous populations isolated from blood or tissues. This method allows for the simultaneous monitoring of multiple parameters, such as mTOR or S6K1/2 signaling activity, the cell cycle stage and phosphorylation of translation factors in single cells, without elaborated, costly and lengthy purification procedures. We took advantage of SunRiSE to demonstrate that, in mouse embryonic fibroblasts, eEF2 phosphorylation by eEF2 kinase (eEF2K) mostly affects translation engagement, but has a surprisingly small effect on elongation, except after proteotoxic stress induction.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

CymeR: cytometry analysis using KNIME, docker and R

PubMed Central

Muchmore, B.; Alarcón-Riquelme, M.E.

2017-01-01

Abstract Summary: Here we present open-source software for the analysis of high-dimensional cytometry data using state of the art algorithms. Importantly, use of the software requires no programming ability, and output files can either be interrogated directly in CymeR or they can be used downstream with any other cytometric data analysis platform. Also, because we use Docker to integrate the multitude of components that form the basis of CymeR, we have additionally developed a proof-of-concept of how future open-source bioinformatic programs with graphical user interfaces could be developed. Availability and Implementation: CymeR is open-source software that ties several components into a single program that is perhaps best thought of as a self-contained data analysis operating system. Please see https://github.com/bmuchmore/CymeR/wiki for detailed installation instructions. Contact: brian.muchmore@genyo.es or marta.alarcon@genyo.es PMID:27998935

CymeR: cytometry analysis using KNIME, docker and R.

PubMed

Muchmore, B; Alarcón-Riquelme, M E

2017-03-01

Here we present open-source software for the analysis of high-dimensional cytometry data using state of the art algorithms. Importantly, use of the software requires no programming ability, and output files can either be interrogated directly in CymeR or they can be used downstream with any other cytometric data analysis platform. Also, because we use Docker to integrate the multitude of components that form the basis of CymeR, we have additionally developed a proof-of-concept of how future open-source bioinformatic programs with graphical user interfaces could be developed. CymeR is open-source software that ties several components into a single program that is perhaps best thought of as a self-contained data analysis operating system. Please see https://github.com/bmuchmore/CymeR/wiki for detailed installation instructions. brian.muchmore@genyo.es or marta.alarcon@genyo.es. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

Genomic Instability at Premalignant and Early Stages of Breast Cancer Development

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-08-01

by routine DNA flow cytometry vation. ERBB2 expression was detected with a to determine DNA index (DI). commercially available antibody (Oncogene Sci...supplements the information gained from ic microsatellite primers. We observed that the ploidy analysis by DNA flow cytometry alone. In DNA so obtained...preserved the proportionality of many cases where flow cytometry could not be per- the different alleles as found in the original sample. formed because the

Inhibition of Breast Cancer-Induced Angiogenesis by a Diverged Homeobox Gene

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-05-01

and then harvested for flow cytometry using appropriate antibodies. Ad.Gax blocked the expression of VCAM-1, E-selectin, and ICAM-1. DOD Idea Award...solution. Bands were visualized by chemiluminescence using the ECL-Plus reagent (Amersham, Piscataway, NJ). Flow Cytometry Cells were harvested after...33), all of whose down-regulation we have confirmed using real time quantitative RT-PCR, Western blot, and flow cytometry (Fig. 5). Moreover, Gax

Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Vascular Target Discovery in Breast Cancer-Associated Angiogenesis

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

demonstrating this marker as demonstrated by flow cytometry . These GFP+ MSCs were subsequently analyzed for expression of commonly reported markers of...phenotypically and genotypically analyzed by flow cytometry and gene chip analysis, respectively. We have also shown that MSCs can then be stimulated to...positive MSCs retrieved by collagenase digestion of the Matrigel plug and sorted by flow cytometry . Sorting of these retrieved cells based on co-expression

Probing Tumor Microenvironment With In Vivo Phage Display

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

C). (C) Dot plots showing mCherry expression on the X axis and fibroblast activation protein ( FAP ) or rabbit isotype control staining in the Y...by flow cytometry-based cell sorting using an antibody against fibroblast activation protein ( FAP ). During the optimization steps, flow cytometry...expression of αvβ3 and αvβ5 integrins, neuropilin-1 (NRP-1), and fibroblast activation protein ( FAP ) in hb6011 CAFs was analyzed by flow cytometry

Fluorescent Cell Barcoding for Multiplex Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Krutzik, Peter O.; Clutter, Matthew R.; Trejo, Angelica; Nolan, Garry P.

2011-01-01

Fluorescent Cell Barcoding (FCB) enables high throughput, i.e. high content flow cytometry by multiplexing samples prior to staining and acquisition on the cytometer. Individual cell samples are barcoded, or labeled, with unique signatures of fluorescent dyes so that they can be mixed together, stained, and analyzed as a single sample. By mixing samples prior to staining, antibody consumption is typically reduced 10 to 100-fold. In addition, data robustness is increased through the combination of control and treated samples, which minimizes pipetting error, staining variation, and the need for normalization. Finally, speed of acquisition is enhanced, enabling large profiling experiments to be run with standard cytometer hardware. In this unit, we outline the steps necessary to apply the FCB method to cell lines as well as primary peripheral blood samples. Important technical considerations such as choice of barcoding dyes, concentrations, labeling buffers, compensation, and software analysis are discussed. PMID:21207359

Quantum-dot-based quantitative identification of pathogens in complex mixture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Sun Hee; Bestwater, Felix; Buchy, Philippe; Mardy, Sek; Yu, Alexey Dan Chin

2010-02-01

In the present study we describe sandwich design hybridization probes consisting of magnetic particles (MP) and quantum dots (QD) with target DNA, and their application in the detection of avian influenza virus (H5N1) sequences. Hybridization of 25-, 40-, and 100-mer target DNA with both probes was analyzed and quantified by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy on the scale of single particles. The following steps were used in the assay: (i) target selection by MP probes and (ii) target detection by QD probes. Hybridization efficiency between MP conjugated probes and target DNA hybrids was controlled by a fluorescent dye specific for nucleic acids. Fluorescence was detected by flow cytometry to distinguish differences in oligo sequences as short as 25-mer capturing in target DNA and by gel-electrophoresis in the case of QD probes. This report shows that effective manipulation and control of micro- and nanoparticles in hybridization assays is possible.

Enzymatic signal amplification for sensitive detection of intracellular antigens by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Karkmann, U; Radbruch, A; Hölzel, V; Scheffold, A

1999-11-19

Flow cytometry is the method of choice for the analysis of single cells with respect to the expression of specific antigens. Antigens can be detected with specific antibodies either on the cell surface or within the cells, after fixation and permeabilization of the cell membrane. Using conventional fluorochrome-labeled antibodies several thousand antigens are required for clear-cut separation of positive and negative cells. More sensitive reagents, e.g., magnetofluorescent liposomes conjugated to specific antibodies permit the detection of less than 200 molecules per cell but cannot be used for the detection of intracellular antigens. Here, we describe an enzymatic amplification technique (intracellular tyramine-based signal amplification, ITSA) for the sensitive cytometric analysis of intracellular cytokines by immunofluorescence. This approach results in a 10 to 15-fold improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio compared to conventional fluorochrome labeled antibodies and permits the detection of as few as 300-400 intracellular antigens per cell.

Flow Cytometry Technician | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Basic Science Program (BSP) pursues independent, multidisciplinary research in basic and applied molecular biology, immunology, retrovirology, cancer biology, and human genetics. Research efforts and support are an integral part of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR). KEY ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES The Flow Cytometry Core (Flow Core) of the Cancer and Inflammation Program (CIP) is a service core which supports the research efforts of the CCR by providing expertise in the field of flow cytometry (using analyzers and sorters) with the goal of gaining a more thorough understanding of the biology of cancer and cancer cells. The Flow Core provides service to 12-15 CIP laboratories and more than 22 non-CIP laboratories. Flow core staff provide technical advice on the experimental design of applications, which include immunological phenotyping, cell function assays, and cell cycle analysis. Work is performed per customer requirements, and no independent research is involved. The Flow Cytometry Technician will be responsible for: Monitor performance of and maintain high dimensional flow cytometer analyzers and cell sorters Operate high dimensional flow cytometer analyzers and cell sorters Monitoring lab supply levels and order lab supplies, perform various record keeping responsibilities Assist in the training of scientific end users on the use of flow cytometry in their research, as well as how to operate and troubleshoot the bench-top analyzer instruments Experience with sterile technique and tissue culture

A robotics platform for automated batch fabrication of high density, microfluidics-based DNA microarrays, with applications to single cell, multiplex assays of secreted proteins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Habib; Sutherland, Alex; Shin, Young Shik; Hwang, Kiwook; Qin, Lidong; Krom, Russell-John; Heath, James R.

2011-09-01

Microfluidics flow-patterning has been utilized for the construction of chip-scale miniaturized DNA and protein barcode arrays. Such arrays have been used for specific clinical and fundamental investigations in which many proteins are assayed from single cells or other small sample sizes. However, flow-patterned arrays are hand-prepared, and so are impractical for broad applications. We describe an integrated robotics/microfluidics platform for the automated preparation of such arrays, and we apply it to the batch fabrication of up to eighteen chips of flow-patterned DNA barcodes. The resulting substrates are comparable in quality with hand-made arrays and exhibit excellent substrate-to-substrate consistency. We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of robotics-patterned barcodes by utilizing two flow-patterned chips for highly parallel assays of a panel of secreted proteins from single macrophage cells.

A robotics platform for automated batch fabrication of high density, microfluidics-based DNA microarrays, with applications to single cell, multiplex assays of secreted proteins

PubMed Central

Ahmad, Habib; Sutherland, Alex; Shin, Young Shik; Hwang, Kiwook; Qin, Lidong; Krom, Russell-John; Heath, James R.

2011-01-01

Microfluidics flow-patterning has been utilized for the construction of chip-scale miniaturized DNA and protein barcode arrays. Such arrays have been used for specific clinical and fundamental investigations in which many proteins are assayed from single cells or other small sample sizes. However, flow-patterned arrays are hand-prepared, and so are impractical for broad applications. We describe an integrated robotics/microfluidics platform for the automated preparation of such arrays, and we apply it to the batch fabrication of up to eighteen chips of flow-patterned DNA barcodes. The resulting substrates are comparable in quality with hand-made arrays and exhibit excellent substrate-to-substrate consistency. We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of robotics-patterned barcodes by utilizing two flow-patterned chips for highly parallel assays of a panel of secreted proteins from single macrophage cells. PMID:21974603

A robotics platform for automated batch fabrication of high density, microfluidics-based DNA microarrays, with applications to single cell, multiplex assays of secreted proteins.

PubMed

Ahmad, Habib; Sutherland, Alex; Shin, Young Shik; Hwang, Kiwook; Qin, Lidong; Krom, Russell-John; Heath, James R

2011-09-01

Microfluidics flow-patterning has been utilized for the construction of chip-scale miniaturized DNA and protein barcode arrays. Such arrays have been used for specific clinical and fundamental investigations in which many proteins are assayed from single cells or other small sample sizes. However, flow-patterned arrays are hand-prepared, and so are impractical for broad applications. We describe an integrated robotics/microfluidics platform for the automated preparation of such arrays, and we apply it to the batch fabrication of up to eighteen chips of flow-patterned DNA barcodes. The resulting substrates are comparable in quality with hand-made arrays and exhibit excellent substrate-to-substrate consistency. We demonstrate the utility and reproducibility of robotics-patterned barcodes by utilizing two flow-patterned chips for highly parallel assays of a panel of secreted proteins from single macrophage cells. © 2011 American Institute of Physics

Near infrared lasers in flow cytometry.

PubMed

Telford, William G

2015-07-01

Technology development in flow cytometry has closely tracked laser technology, the light source that flow cytometers almost exclusively use to excite fluorescent probes. The original flow cytometers from the 1970s and 1980s used large water-cooled lasers to produce only one or two laser lines at a time. Modern cytometers can take advantage of the revolution in solid state laser technology to use almost any laser wavelength ranging from the ultraviolet to the near infrared. Commercial cytometers can now be equipped with many small solid state lasers, providing almost any wavelength needed for cellular analysis. Flow cytometers are now equipped to analyze 20 or more fluorescent probes simultaneously, requiring multiple laser wavelengths. Instrument developers are now trying to increase this number by designing fluorescent probes that can be excited by laser wavelength at the "edges" of the visible light range, in the near ultraviolet and near-infrared region. A variety of fluorescent probes have been developed that excite with violet and long wavelength ultraviolet light; however, the near-infrared range (660-800 nm) has yet seen only exploitation in flow cytometry. Fortunately, near-infrared laser diodes and other solid state laser technologies appropriate for flow cytometry have been in existence for some time, and can be readily incorporated into flow cytometers to accelerate fluorescent probe development. The near infrared region represents one of the last "frontiers" to maximize the number of fluorescent probes that can be analyzed by flow cytometry. In addition, near infrared fluorescent probes used in biomedical tracking and imaging could also be employed for flow cytometry with the correct laser wavelengths. This review describes the available technology, including lasers, fluorescent probes and detector technology optimal for near infrared signal detection. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Blockade of Tumor Cell TGF-Betas: A Strategy to Reverse Antiestrogen Resistance in Human Breast Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2002-01-01

the TM- FKHRL1 construct exhibited exclusive nuclear localization Cell Cycle Analysis by Flow Cytometry of the HA-tagged mutant under any experimental...distribution as measured by flow cytometry (Figure 8A). ALS AND METHODS. Consistent with its antiapoptotic effect, these results, addi- tion of TGFI3... flow cytometry . Under these conditions more than 95% of selected cells expressed GFP at the time of experiments. Immunoblot Analysis. Cells were

Slow-Adhering Stem Cells Derived from Injured Skeletal Muscle Have Improved Regenerative Capacity

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-08-01

images. Flow Cytometry Assay of Stem Cell Markers SASCs (1 105) isolated from noninjured or injured muscle were collected and washed twice with...muscle. Results of flow cytometry further verified Sca-1 and CD34 expression in isolated SASCs, and a greater percentage of cells were positive for Sca-1...from both injured and control noninjured muscle were analyzed using flow cytometry for the immunofluorescent signal of Sca-1 and CD34. Results

Augmenting Trastuzumab Therapy against Breast Cancer through Selective Activation of NK Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-01

purity as defined by CD3-CD56+ flow cytometry ) and activation (>50% expression of CD137). Breast cancer cell lines including MCF7 (A and E...purity as defined by CD3-CD56+ flow cytometry ) and activation (>50% expression of CD137). Chromium-labeled breast cancer cell lines including MCF7 (A...and Whiteside, T.L. 2007. A novel multiparametric flow cytometry -based cytotoxicity assay simultaneously immunophenotypes effector cells: comparisons

Hypoxia and Prx1 in Malignant Progression of Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-01

Species (ROS) Formation The rate of ROS formation was determined by flow cytometry analysis using the probe 20,70-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA...DA were subjected to 4-h hypoxia treatment. After the indicated time, fluorescent cells were analyzed by flow cytometry . Western Blot Analysis Equal...species (ROS) generation was measured by flow cytometry at 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, or 24 h after hypoxia treatment. The rate of ROS generation increased

Significances of red cell bound immunoglobulin G as detected by flow cytometry in patients with Coombs-negative immune hemolysis.

PubMed

Thedsawad, A; Taka, O; Wanachiwanawin, W

2016-04-01

This study was to investigate the use of flow cytometry for detection and quantitation of red blood cells (RBC) bound IgG in immune hemolysis of patients with autoimmune hemolytic anaemia (AIHA) and systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Two to ten percent of patients with warm-autoimmune hemolytic anaemia (WAIHA) exhibit a negative direct Coombs test. Flow cytometry has been applied to detect RBC bound IgG with high accuracy, reproducibility and sensitivity. In this study 45 and 75 patients with AIHA and SLE, respectively were evaluated for RBC bound IgG by direct Coombs test and flow cytometry. Seventy-one percent (32/45) and 31% (23/75) of patients with AIHA and SLE respectively, had laboratory evidence of hemolysis. A positive flow cytometry, as defined by mean fluorescent intensity (MFI) values >0·21 and IgG molecules >28, was found in 4 of 32 (12·5%) and 4 of 23 (17·4%) patients with AIHA and SLE who had hemolysis with a negative direct Coombs test. There were very strong and strong correlations between the strength of direct Coombs test with MFI values and IgG molecules in patients with AIHA and SLE, respectively. Flow cytometry can be applied in the diagnosis of Coombs-negative hemolytic anaemia in patients with AIHA and SLE. © 2016 British Blood Transfusion Society.

Immunophenotyping of acute leukaemias by flow cytometry: a review.

PubMed

Pamnani, R

2009-12-01

To provide an overview of the utility of flow cytometry for phenotyping of acute leukaemias and selection-of monoclonal antibodies. The literature review was obtained through internet, journals and chapters in the relevant books. Relevant articles and chapters on immunophenotyping of acute leukaemias were selected from respected international journals and books in the field of haematology and were reviewed. Complete articles relevant to the topic were selected and reviewed and the necessary information extracted for this review. Flow cytometry has been used extensively in recent years to characterise haemopoeitic malignancies and done routinely in the developed world. This technique has greatly improved the diagnosis and classification of haemopoeitic malignancies and has been recommended by World Health Organisation classification (WHO) of tumours of haemopoeitic and lymphoid tissue. Application of flow cytometry for the diagnosis of leukaemias has been recently introduced in Kenya and is currently being undertaken in research using limited but appropriate panels of monoclonal antibodies. It is hoped that findings of this research will inform the use of flow cytometry as an ancillary diagnostic technique in our resource-constrained set up.

A classification tree approach for improving the utilization of flow cytometry testing of blood specimens for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoproliferative disorders.

PubMed

Healey, Ryan; Naugler, Christopher; de Koning, Lawrence; Patel, Jay L

2015-01-01

We sought to improve the diagnostic efficiency of flow cytometry investigation on blood by developing data-driven ordering guidelines. Our goal was to improve flow cytometry utilization by decreasing negative testing, therefore reducing healthcare costs. We investigated several laboratory tests performed alongside flow cytometry to identify biomarkers useful in excluding non-leukemic bloods. Test results and patient demographic features were subjected to receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve, logistic regression and classification tree analyses to find significant predictors and develop decision rules. Our data show that, in the absence of a compelling clinical indication, flow cytometry testing is largely non-informative on bloods from patients less than 50 years of age having an absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) below 5.0 × 10(9)/L. For patients over age 50 having an ALC below this value, a ferritin value above 450 μg/L is counter-indicative of B-cell clonality. Using these guidelines, 26% of cases were correctly predicted as negative with greater than 97% accuracy.

qFlow Cytometry-Based Receptoromic Screening: A High-Throughput Quantification Approach Informing Biomarker Selection and Nanosensor Development.

PubMed

Chen, Si; Weddell, Jared; Gupta, Pavan; Conard, Grace; Parkin, James; Imoukhuede, Princess I

2017-01-01

Nanosensor-based detection of biomarkers can improve medical diagnosis; however, a critical factor in nanosensor development is deciding which biomarker to target, as most diseases present several biomarkers. Biomarker-targeting decisions can be informed via an understanding of biomarker expression. Currently, immunohistochemistry (IHC) is the accepted standard for profiling biomarker expression. While IHC provides a relative mapping of biomarker expression, it does not provide cell-by-cell readouts of biomarker expression or absolute biomarker quantification. Flow cytometry overcomes both these IHC challenges by offering biomarker expression on a cell-by-cell basis, and when combined with calibration standards, providing quantitation of biomarker concentrations: this is known as qFlow cytometry. Here, we outline the key components for applying qFlow cytometry to detect biomarkers within the angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor receptor family. The key aspects of the qFlow cytometry methodology include: antibody specificity testing, immunofluorescent cell labeling, saturation analysis, fluorescent microsphere calibration, and quantitative analysis of both ensemble and cell-by-cell data. Together, these methods enable high-throughput quantification of biomarker expression.

Flow cytometry for the assessment of animal sperm integrity and functionality: state of the art

PubMed Central

Hossain, Md. Sharoare; Johannisson, Anders; Wallgren, Margareta; Nagy, Szabolcs; Siqueira, Amanda Pimenta; Rodriguez-Martinez, Heriberto

2011-01-01

Flow cytometry is now a recognized methodology within animal spermatology, and has moved from being a research tool to become routine in the assessment of animal semen destined to breeding. The availability of ‘bench-top' flow cytometers and of newer and versatile markers for cell structure and function had allowed the instrumentation to measure more sperm parameters, from viability to reactiveness when exposed to exogenous stimuli, and to increase our capabilities to sort spermatozoa for potential fertilizing capacity, or chromosomal sex. The present review summarizes the state of the art regarding flow cytometry applied to animal andrology, albeit keeping an open comparative intent. It critically evaluates the present and future capabilities of flow cytometry for the diagnostics of potential fertility and for the development of current reproductive technologies such as sperm freezing, sperm selection and sperm sorting. The flow cytometry methods will probably further revolutionize our understanding of the sperm physiology and their functionality, and will undoubtedly extend its application in isolating many uncharacterized features of spermatozoa. However, continuous follow-up of the methods is a necessity owing to technical developments and the complexity of mapping spermatozoa. PMID:21478895

CytometryML: a markup language for analytical cytology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.; Leif, Stephanie H.; Leif, Suzanne B.

2003-06-01

Cytometry Markup Language, CytometryML, is a proposed new analytical cytology data standard. CytometryML is a set of XML schemas for encoding both flow cytometry and digital microscopy text based data types. CytometryML schemas reference both DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) codes and FCS keywords. These schemas provide representations for the keywords in FCS 3.0 and will soon include DICOM microscopic image data. Flow Cytometry Standard (FCS) list-mode has been mapped to the DICOM Waveform Information Object. A preliminary version of a list mode binary data type, which does not presently exist in DICOM, has been designed. This binary type is required to enhance the storage and transmission of flow cytometry and digital microscopy data. Index files based on Waveform indices will be used to rapidly locate the cells present in individual subsets. DICOM has the advantage of employing standard file types, TIF and JPEG, for Digital Microscopy. Using an XML schema based representation means that standard commercial software packages such as Excel and MathCad can be used to analyze, display, and store analytical cytometry data. Furthermore, by providing one standard for both DICOM data and analytical cytology data, it eliminates the need to create and maintain special purpose interfaces for analytical cytology data thereby integrating the data into the larger DICOM and other clinical communities. A draft version of CytometryML is available at www.newportinstruments.com.

The role of flow cytometry in companion animal diagnostic medicine.

PubMed

Tarrant, Jacqueline M

2005-11-01

Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for characterising the composition of complex cell populations. The accuracy and precision of this technology for describing and enumerating cells exceeds traditional methods. The number of diagnostic veterinary laboratories with access to a dedicated machine is increasing, and there is the potential to offer a clinical flow cytometry service. The improved availability of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to cell markers expressed by the leukocytes of companion animals, permits the implementation of comprehensive mAb panels suitable for diagnosis of lympho- and myeloproliferative disease. Reticulated erythrocyte and platelet quantification, antiglobulin assays for immune-mediated cytopenias, lymphocyte subset analysis, and immunophenotyping of lymphoma and leukemia, have been validated for companion animal samples on the flow cytometer. It is now timely to consider the role of flow cytometry in diagnostic practice, and the requirement for quality assurance and standardization of testing procedures.

FlowSOM: Using self-organizing maps for visualization and interpretation of cytometry data.

PubMed

Van Gassen, Sofie; Callebaut, Britt; Van Helden, Mary J; Lambrecht, Bart N; Demeester, Piet; Dhaene, Tom; Saeys, Yvan

2015-07-01

The number of markers measured in both flow and mass cytometry keeps increasing steadily. Although this provides a wealth of information, it becomes infeasible to analyze these datasets manually. When using 2D scatter plots, the number of possible plots increases exponentially with the number of markers and therefore, relevant information that is present in the data might be missed. In this article, we introduce a new visualization technique, called FlowSOM, which analyzes Flow or mass cytometry data using a Self-Organizing Map. Using a two-level clustering and star charts, our algorithm helps to obtain a clear overview of how all markers are behaving on all cells, and to detect subsets that might be missed otherwise. R code is available at https://github.com/SofieVG/FlowSOM and will be made available at Bioconductor. © 2015 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Confocal Microscopy and Flow Cytometry System Performance: Assessment of QA Parameters that affect data Quanitification

EPA Science Inventory

Flow and image cytometers can provide useful quantitative fluorescence data. We have devised QA tests to be used on both a flow cytometer and a confocal microscope to assure that the data is accurate, reproducible and precise. Flow Cytometry: We have provided two simple perform...

Automated microfluidic platform for systematic studies of colloidal perovskite nanocrystals: towards continuous nano-manufacturing.

PubMed

Epps, Robert W; Felton, Kobi C; Coley, Connor W; Abolhasani, Milad

2017-11-21

Colloidal organic/inorganic metal-halide perovskite nanocrystals have recently emerged as a potential low-cost replacement for the semiconductor materials in commercial photovoltaics and light emitting diodes. However, unlike III-V and IV-VI semiconductor nanocrystals, studies of colloidal perovskite nanocrystals have yet to develop a fundamental and comprehensive understanding of nucleation and growth kinetics. Here, we introduce a modular and automated microfluidic platform for the systematic studies of room-temperature synthesized cesium-lead halide perovskite nanocrystals. With abundant data collection across the entirety of four orders of magnitude reaction time span, we comprehensively characterize nanocrystal growth within a modular microfluidic reactor. The developed high-throughput screening platform features a custom-designed three-port flow cell with translational capability for in situ spectral characterization of the in-flow synthesized perovskite nanocrystals along a tubular microreactor with an adjustable length, ranging from 3 cm to 196 cm. The translational flow cell allows for sampling of twenty unique residence times at a single equilibrated flow rate. The developed technique requires an average total liquid consumption of 20 μL per spectra and as little as 2 μL at the time of sampling. It may continuously sample up to 30 000 unique spectra per day in both single and multi-phase flow formats. Using the developed plug-and-play microfluidic platform, we study the growth of cesium lead trihalide perovskite nanocrystals through in situ monitoring of their absorption and emission band-gaps at residence times ranging from 100 ms to 17 min. The automated microfluidic platform enables a systematic study of the effect of mixing enhancement on the quality of the synthesized nanocrystals through a direct comparison between single- and multi-phase flow systems at similar reaction time scales. The improved mixing characteristics of the multi-phase flow format results in high-quality perovskite nanocrystals with kinetically tunable emission wavelength, ranging as much as 25 nm at equivalent residence times. Further application of this unique platform would allow rapid parameter optimization in the colloidal synthesis of a wide range of nanomaterials (e.g., metal or semiconductor), that is directly transferable to continuous manufacturing in a numbered-up platform with a similar characteristic length scale.

Therapy of Prostate Cancer Using a Human Antibody Targeting the Type 1 Insulin-Like Growth Factor Receptor (IGF-IR)

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

euthanized, tumors harvested and portions processed for IHC, Western blot, flow cytometry , culture, and RNA analysis. If not enough tissue is available...temperature for 60 minutes. Samples were analyzed by flow cytometry using a BD FACScan. Data were analyzed with CellQuestPRO software. Evaluation of BrdUrd...were approved by the University of Washington Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). Flow cytometry . To measure tumor IGF-IR expression

Micro and Nano-mediated 3D Cardiac Tissue Engineering

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-10-01

in both flow cytometry and Western Blot applications. The CD34 antigen is important in stem cell research due to its widespread use in identifying...for further characterization. We generated a pCD34 expressing CHO cell line (CHO-CD34) and analyzed pCD34 expression by flow cytometry (Figure 1A... flow cytometry using the 3G7 antibody and co-stained with an anti-CD31 antibody (AbD Serotec; FITC conjugated). CD31 (PECAM) is a pan endothelial

Dose-Dependent Thresholds of 10-ns Electric Pulse Induced Plasma Membrane Disruption and Cytotoxicity in Multiple Cell Lines

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-01-01

normalized to parallel controls. Flow Cytometry and Confocal Microscopy Upon exposure to 10-ns EP, aliquots of the cellular suspension were added to a tube...Survival data was processed and plotted using GrapherH software (Golden Software, Golden, Colorado). Flow cytometry results were processed in C6 software...Accuri Cytometers, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI) and FCSExpress software (DeNovo Software, Los Angeles, CA). Final analysis and presentation of flow cytometry

Sensitivity of Breast Cancer Stem Cells to TRA-8 Anti-DR5 Monoclonal Antibody

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-02-01

cytotoxicity and reduction in BrCSC marker expression. A. 2LMP cells were sorted using flow cytometry for CD44+/CD24-/ALDHhigh. Cells were pre...cells were sorted using flow cytometry for ALDH? cells and allowed to form primary tumorspheres for 3 days. After tumorspheres were mechanically...n =5 ) Day Fig. 5 Effect of ex vivo treatment of BrCSC enriched cells on tumorgenicity in NOD/SCID mice. 2LMP cells were sorted using flow cytometry

Canonical Wnt Signaling as a Specific Marker of Normal and Tumorigenic Mammary Stem Cells

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-02-01

get enough sorted mammary cells for the transplantation experiments. We are currently working with our Flow Cytometry Core to sort Lin-/CD24+/CD49...activity our flow cytometry data suggests t here is a 2-fold increase in the number of FOG+ MEC’s in BATgal animals compared to contro ls which...this populat ion of cells is enriched for stem cell activity. Flow cytometry will determine the percentage of FOG+ cells within pre-neoplastic BATgai

Articular Cartilage Repair Through Muscle Cell-Based Tissue Engineering

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-03-01

results suggest that sFlt-1 has more of an enhancing effect in vivo. With cell markers and flow cytometry , investiga- tors at our laboratory have...were analyzed by flow cytometry . They were immunostained by desmin, vimentin and MyoD and their chondrogenic potential was evaluated under the...M1, M2, and M3) and 3 F-MDSC populations (F1, F2, and F3) were characterized by flow cytometry for CD34 and Sca1 expression. MDSCs were labeled with

Flow Cytometry Scientist | Center for Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Basic Science Program (BSP) pursues independent, multidisciplinary research in basic and applied molecular biology, immunology, retrovirology, cancer biology, and human genetics. Research efforts and support are an integral part of the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR). KEY ROLES/RESPONSIBILITIES The Flow Cytometry Core (Flow Core) in the Cancer and Inflammation Program (CIP) is a service core which supports the research efforts of the CCR by providing expertise in the field of flow cytometry (using analyzers and sorters) with the goal of gaining a more thorough understanding of the biology of the immune system, cancer, and inflammation processes. The Flow Core provides service to 12-15 CIP laboratories and more than 22 non-CIP laboratories. Flow core staff provide technical advice on the experimental design of applications, which include immunological phenotyping, cell function assays, and cell cycle analysis. Work is performed per customer requirements, and no independent research is involved. The Flow Cytometry Scientist will be responsible for: Daily management of the Flow Cytometry Core, to include the supervision and guidance of technical staff members Monitor performance of and maintain high dimensional flow cytometer analyzers and cell sorters Operate high dimensional flow cytometer analyzers and cell sorters Provide scientific expertise to the user community and facilitate the development of cutting edge technologies Interact with Flow Core users and customers, and provide technical and scientific advice, and guidance regarding their experiments, including possible collaborations Train staff and scientific end users on the use of flow cytometry in their research, as well as teach them how to operate and troubleshoot the bench-top analyzer instruments Prepare and deliver lectures, as well as one-on-one training sessions, with customers/users Ensure that protocols are up-to-date, and appropriately adhered to Experience with sterile technique and tissue culture

Spaceflight Flow Cytometry: Design Challenges and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pappas, Dimitri; Kao, Shih-Hsin; Jeevarajan, Antony S.

2004-01-01

Future space exploration missions will require analytical technology capable of providing both autonomous medical care to the crew and investigative capabilities to researchers. While several promising candidate technologies exist for further development, flow cytometry is an attractive technology as it offers both crew health and a wide array of biochemistry and immunology assays. While flow cytometry has been widely used for cellular analysis in both clinical and research settings, the requirements for proper operation in spaceflight impose constraints on any instrument designs. The challenges of designing a spaceflight-ready flow cytometer are discussed, as well as some preliminary results using a prototype system.

Dynamic analysis of apoptosis using cyanine SYTO probes: From classical to microfluidic cytometry

PubMed Central

Wlodkowic, Donald; Skommer, Joanna; Faley, Shannon; Darzynkiewicz, Zbigniew; Cooper, Jonathan M.

2013-01-01

Cell death is a stochastic process, often initiated and/or executed in a multi-pathway/multi-organelle fashion. Therefore, high-throughput single-cell analysis platforms are required to provide detailed characterization of kinetics and mechanisms of cell death in heterogeneous cell populations. However, there is still a largely unmet need for inert fluorescent probes, suitable for prolonged kinetic studies. Here, we compare the use of innovative adaptation of unsymmetrical SYTO dyes for dynamic real-time analysis of apoptosis in conventional as well as microfluidic chip-based systems. We show that cyanine SYTO probes allow non-invasive tracking of intracellular events over extended time. Easy handling and “stain–no wash” protocols open up new opportunities for high-throughput analysis and live-cell sorting. Furthermore, SYTO probes are easily adaptable for detection of cell death using automated microfluidic chip-based cytometry. Overall, the combined use of SYTO probes and state-of-the-art Lab-on-a-Chip platform emerges as a cost effective solution for automated drug screening compared to conventional Annexin V or TUNEL assays. In particular, it should allow for dynamic analysis of samples where low cell number has so far been an obstacle, e.g. primary cancer stems cells or circulating minimal residual tumors. PMID:19298813

Highly multiplexed simultaneous detection of RNAs and proteins in single cells.

PubMed

Frei, Andreas P; Bava, Felice-Alessio; Zunder, Eli R; Hsieh, Elena W Y; Chen, Shih-Yu; Nolan, Garry P; Gherardini, Pier Federico

2016-03-01

To enable the detection of expression signatures specific to individual cells, we developed PLAYR (proximity ligation assay for RNA), a method for highly multiplexed transcript quantification by flow and mass cytometry that is compatible with standard antibody staining. When used with mass cytometry, PLAYR allowed for the simultaneous quantification of more than 40 different mRNAs and proteins. In primary cells, we quantified multiple transcripts, with the identity and functional state of each analyzed cell defined on the basis of the expression of a separate set of transcripts or proteins. By expanding high-throughput deep phenotyping of cells beyond protein epitopes to include RNA expression, PLAYR opens a new avenue for the characterization of cellular metabolism.

Reliable and accurate CD4+ T cell count and percent by the portable flow cytometer CyFlow MiniPOC and "CD4 Easy Count Kit-Dry", as revealed by the comparison with the gold standard dual platform technology.

PubMed

Nasi, Milena; De Biasi, Sara; Bianchini, Elena; Gibellini, Lara; Pinti, Marcello; Scacchetti, Tiziana; Trenti, Tommaso; Borghi, Vanni; Mussini, Cristina; Cossarizza, Andrea

2015-01-01

An accurate and affordable CD4+ T cells count is an essential tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Flow cytometry (FCM) is the "gold standard" for counting such cells, but this technique is expensive and requires sophisticated equipment, temperature-sensitive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and trained personnel. The lack of access to technical support and quality assurance programs thus limits the use of FCM in resource-constrained countries. We have tested the accuracy, the precision and the carry-over contamination of Partec CyFlow MiniPOC, a portable and economically affordable flow cytometer designed for CD4+ count and percentage, used along with the "CD4% Count Kit-Dry". Venous blood from 59 adult HIV+ patients (age: 25-58 years; 43 males and 16 females) was collected and stained with the "MiniPOC CD4% Count Kit-Dry". CD4+ count and percentage were then determined in triplicate by the CyFlow MiniPOC. In parallel, CD4 count was performed using mAbs and a CyFlow Counter, or by a dual platform system (from Beckman Coulter) based upon Cytomic FC500 ("Cytostat tetrachrome kit" for mAbs) and Coulter HmX Hematology Analyzer (for absolute cell count). The accuracy of CyFlow MiniPOC against Cytomic FC500 showed a correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.98 and 0.97 for CD4+ count and percentage, respectively. The accuracy of CyFlow MiniPOC against CyFlow Counter showed a CC of 0.99 and 0.99 for CD4 T cell count and percentage, respectively. CyFlow MiniPOC showed an excellent repeatability: CD4+ cell count and percentage were analyzed on two instruments, with an intra-assay precision below ± 5% deviation. Finally, there was no carry-over contamination for samples at all CD4 values, regardless of their position in the sequence of analysis. The cost-effective CyFlow MiniPOC produces rapid, reliable and accurate results that are fully comparable with those from highly expensive dual platform systems.

Immunoglobulin light chain allelic inclusion in systemic lupus erythematosus.

PubMed

Fraser, Louise D; Zhao, Yuan; Lutalo, Pamela M K; D'Cruz, David P; Cason, John; Silva, Joselli S; Dunn-Walters, Deborah K; Nayar, Saba; Cope, Andrew P; Spencer, Jo

2015-08-01

The principles of allelic exclusion state that each B cell expresses a single light and heavy chain pair. Here, we show that B cells with both kappa and lambda light chains (Igκ and Igλ) are enriched in some patients with the systemic autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but not in the systemic autoimmune disease control granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Detection of dual Igκ and Igλ expression by flow cytometry could not be abolished by acid washing or by DNAse treatment to remove any bound polyclonal antibody or complexes, and was retained after two days in culture. Both surface and intracytoplasmic dual light chain expression was evident by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. We observed reduced frequency of rearrangements of the kappa-deleting element (KDE) in SLE and an inverse correlation between the frequency of KDE rearrangement and the frequency of dual light chain expressing B cells. We propose that dual expression of Igκ and Igλ by a single B cell may occur in some patients with SLE when this may be a consequence of reduced activity of the KDE. © 2015 The Authors. European Journal of Immunology published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Acoustofluidic bacteria separation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Sixing; Ma, Fen; Bachman, Hunter; Cameron, Craig E.; Zeng, Xiangqun; Huang, Tony Jun

2017-01-01

Bacterial separation from human blood samples can help with the identification of pathogenic bacteria for sepsis diagnosis. In this work, we report an acoustofluidic device for label-free bacterial separation from human blood samples. In particular, we exploit the acoustic radiation force generated from a tilted-angle standing surface acoustic wave (taSSAW) field to separate Escherichia coli from human blood cells based on their size difference. Flow cytometry analysis of the E. coli separated from red blood cells shows a purity of more than 96%. Moreover, the label-free electrochemical detection of the separated E. coli displays reduced non-specific signals due to the removal of blood cells. Our acoustofluidic bacterial separation platform has advantages such as label-free separation, high biocompatibility, flexibility, low cost, miniaturization, automation, and ease of in-line integration. The platform can be incorporated with an on-chip sensor to realize a point-of-care sepsis diagnostic device.

Assay validation for the assessment of adipogenesis of multipotential stromal cells—a direct comparison of four different methods

PubMed Central

Aldridge, Andrew; Kouroupis, Dimitrios; Churchman, Sarah; English, Anne; Ingham, Eileen; Jones, Elena

2013-01-01

Background aims Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are regenerative and immuno-privileged cells that are used for both tissue regeneration and treatment of severe inflammation-related disease. For quality control of manufactured MSC batches in regard to mature fat cell contamination, a quantitative method for measuring adipogenesis is needed. Methods Four previously proposed methods were validated with the use of bone marrow (BM) MSCs during a 21-day in vitro assay. Oil red staining was scored semiquantitatively; peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-γ and fatty acid binding protein (FABP)4 transcripts were measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; FABP4 protein accumulation was evaluated by flow cytometry; and Nile red/4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) ratios were measured in fluorescent microplate assay. Skin fibroblasts and MSCs from fat pad, cartilage and umbilical cord were used as controls. Results Oil red staining indicated considerable heterogeneity between BM donors and individual cells within the same culture. FABP4 transcript levels increased 100- to 5000-fold by day 21, with large donor variability observed. Flow cytometry revealed increasing intra-culture heterogeneity over time; more granular cells accumulated more FABP4 protein and Nile red fluorescence compared with less granular cells. Nile red increase in day-21 MSCs was ∼5- and 4-fold, measured by flow cytometry or microplate assay, respectively. MSC proliferation/apoptosis was accounted through the use of Nile red/DAPI ratios; adipogenesis levels in day-21 BM MSCs increased ∼13-fold, with significant correlations with oil red scoring observed for MSC from other sources. Conclusions Flow cytometry permits the study of MSC differentiation at the single-cell level and sorting more and less mature cells from mixed cell populations. The microplate assay with the use of the Nile red/DAPI ratio provides rapid quantitative measurements and could be used as a low-cost, high-throughput method to quality-control MSC batches from different tissue sources. PMID:23260089

Improved Diffuse Fluorescence Flow Cytometer Prototype for High Sensitivity Detection of Rare Circulating Cells In Vivo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pestana, Noah Benjamin

Accurate quantification of circulating cell populations is important in many areas of pre-clinical and clinical biomedical research, for example, in the study of cancer metastasis or the immune response following tissue and organ transplants. Normally this is done "ex-vivo" by drawing and purifying a small volume of blood and then analyzing it with flow cytometry, hemocytometry or microfludic devices, but the sensitivity of these techniques are poor and the process of handling samples has been shown to affect cell viability and behavior. More recently "in vivo flow cytometry" (IVFC) techniques have been developed where fluorescently-labeled cells flowing in a small blood vessel in the ear or retina are analyzed, but the sensitivity is generally poor due to the small sampling volume. To address this, our group recently developed a method known as "Diffuse Fluorescence Flow Cytometry" (DFFC) that allows detection and counting of rare circulating cells with diffuse photons, offering extremely high single cell counting sensitivity. In this thesis, an improved DFFC prototype was designed and validated. The chief improvements were three-fold, i) improved optical collection efficiency, ii) improved detection electronics, and iii) development of a method to mitigate motion artifacts during in vivo measurements. In combination, these improvements yielded an overall instrument detection sensitivity better than 1 cell/mL in vivo, which is the most sensitive IVFC system reported to date. Second, development and validation of a low-cost microfluidic device reader for analysis of ocular fluids is described. We demonstrate that this device has equivalent or better sensitivity and accuracy compared a fluorescence microscope, but at an order-of-magnitude reduced cost with simplified operation. Future improvements to both instruments are also discussed.

Rapid multi-wavelength optical assessment of circulating blood volume without a priori data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Loginova, Ekaterina V.; Zhidkova, Tatyana V.; Proskurnin, Mikhail A.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2016-03-01

The measurement of circulating blood volume (CBV) is crucial in various medical conditions including surgery, iatrogenic problems, rapid fluid administration, transfusion of red blood cells, or trauma with extensive blood loss including battlefield injuries and other emergencies. Currently, available commercial techniques are invasive and time-consuming for trauma situations. Recently, we have proposed high-speed multi-wavelength photoacoustic/photothermal (PA/PT) flow cytometry for in vivo CBV assessment with multiple dyes as PA contrast agents (labels). As the first step, we have characterized the capability of this technique to monitor the clearance of three dyes (indocyanine green, methylene blue, and trypan blue) in an animal model. However, there are strong demands on improvements in PA/PT flow cytometry. As additional verification of our proof-of-concept of this technique, we performed optical photometric CBV measurements in vitro. Three label dyes—methylene blue, crystal violet and, partially, brilliant green—were selected for simultaneous photometric determination of the components of their two-dye mixtures in the circulating blood in vitro without any extra data (like hemoglobin absorption) known a priori. The tests of single dyes and their mixtures in a flow system simulating a blood transfusion system showed a negligible difference between the sensitivities of the determination of these dyes under batch and flow conditions. For individual dyes, the limits of detection of 3×10-6 M‒3×10-6 M in blood were achieved, which provided their continuous determination at a level of 10-5 M for the CBV assessment without a priori data on the matrix. The CBV assessment with errors no higher than 4% were obtained, and the possibility to apply the developed procedure for optical photometric (flow cytometry) with laser sources was shown.

Flow cytometry and cell sorting of heterogeneous microbial populations: the importance of single-cell analyses.

PubMed Central

Davey, H M; Kell, D B

1996-01-01

The most fundamental questions such as whether a cell is alive, in the sense of being able to divide or to form a colony, may sometimes be very hard to answer, since even axenic microbial cultures are extremely heterogeneous. Analyses that seek to correlate such things as viability, which is a property of an individual cell, with macroscopic measurements of culture variables such as ATP content, respiratory activity, and so on, must inevitably fail. It is therefore necessary to make physiological measurements on individual cells. Flow cytometry is such a technique, which allows one to analyze cells rapidly and individually and permits the quantitative analysis of microbial heterogeneity. It therefore offers many advantages over conventional measurements for both routine and more exploratory analyses of microbial properties. While the technique has been widely applied to the study of mammalian cells, is use in microbiology has until recently been much more limited, largely because of the smaller size of microbes and the consequently smaller optical signals obtainable from them. Since these technical barriers no longer hold, flow cytometry with appropriate stains has been used for the rapid discrimination and identification of microbial cells, for the rapid assessment of viability and of the heterogeneous distributions of a wealth of other more detailed physiological properties, for the analysis of antimicrobial drug-cell interactions, and for the isolation of high-yielding strains of biotechnological interest. Flow cytometric analyses provide an abundance of multivariate data, and special methods have been devised to exploit these. Ongoing advances mean that modern flow cytometers may now be used by nonspecialists to effect a renaissance in our understanding of microbial heterogeneity. PMID:8987359

Time-Domain Microfluidic Fluorescence Lifetime Flow Cytometry for High-Throughput Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Screening

PubMed Central

Nedbal, Jakub; Visitkul, Viput; Ortiz-Zapater, Elena; Weitsman, Gregory; Chana, Prabhjoat; Matthews, Daniel R; Ng, Tony; Ameer-Beg, Simon M

2015-01-01

Sensing ion or ligand concentrations, physico-chemical conditions, and molecular dimerization or conformation change is possible by assays involving fluorescent lifetime imaging. The inherent low throughput of imaging impedes rigorous statistical data analysis on large cell numbers. We address this limitation by developing a fluorescence lifetime-measuring flow cytometer for fast fluorescence lifetime quantification in living or fixed cell populations. The instrument combines a time-correlated single photon counting epifluorescent microscope with microfluidics cell-handling system. The associated computer software performs burst integrated fluorescence lifetime analysis to assign fluorescence lifetime, intensity, and burst duration to each passing cell. The maximum safe throughput of the instrument reaches 3,000 particles per minute. Living cells expressing spectroscopic rulers of varying peptide lengths were distinguishable by Förster resonant energy transfer measured by donor fluorescence lifetime. An epidermal growth factor (EGF)-stimulation assay demonstrated the technique's capacity to selectively quantify EGF receptor phosphorylation in cells, which was impossible by measuring sensitized emission on a standard flow cytometer. Dual-color fluorescence lifetime detection and cell-specific chemical environment sensing were exemplified using di-4-ANEPPDHQ, a lipophilic environmentally sensitive dye that exhibits changes in its fluorescence lifetime as a function of membrane lipid order. To our knowledge, this instrument opens new applications in flow cytometry which were unavailable due to technological limitations of previously reported fluorescent lifetime flow cytometers. The presented technique is sensitive to lifetimes of most popular fluorophores in the 0.5–5 ns range including fluorescent proteins and is capable of detecting multi-exponential fluorescence lifetime decays. This instrument vastly enhances the throughput of experiments involving fluorescence lifetime measurements, thereby providing statistically significant quantitative data for analysis of large cell populations. © 2014 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry PMID:25523156

Role of CD81 and CD58 in minimal residual disease detection in pediatric B lymphoblastic leukemia.

PubMed

Tsitsikov, E; Harris, M H; Silverman, L B; Sallan, S E; Weinberg, O K

2018-06-01

Minimal residual disease (MRD) in B lymphoblastic leukemia has been demonstrated to be a powerful predictor of clinical outcome in numerous studies in both children and adults. In this study, we evaluated 86 pediatric patients with both diagnostic and remission flow cytometry studies and compared expression of CD81, CD58, CD19, CD34, CD20, and CD38 in the detection of MRD. We evaluated 86 patients with B lymphoblastic leukemia who had both diagnostic studies and remission studies for the presence of MRD using multicolor flow cytometry. We established our detection limit for identifying abnormal lymphoblasts using serial dilutions. We also compared flow cytometry findings with molecular MRD detection in a subset of patients. We found that we can resolve differences between hematogones and lymphoblasts in 85 of 86 cases using a combination of CD45, CD19, CD34, CD10, CD20, CD38, CD58, and CD81. Our detection limit using flow cytometry is 0.002% for detecting a population of abnormal B lymphoblasts. Comparison with MRD assessment by molecular methods showed a high concordance rate with flow cytometry findings. Our study highlights importance of using multiple markers to detect MRD in B lymphoblastic leukemia. Our findings indicate that including both CD58 and CD81 markers in addition to CD19, CD34, CD20, CD38, and CD10 are helpful in MRD detection by flow cytometry. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Optimization of the C11-BODIPY(581/591) dye for the determination of lipid oxidation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Cheloni, Giulia; Slaveykova, Vera I

2013-10-01

Lipid oxidation is a recognized end point for the study of oxidative stress and is an important parameter to describe the mode of micropollutant action on aquatic microorganisms. Therefore, the development of quick and reliable methodologies probing the oxidative stress and damage in living cells is highly sought. In the present proof-of-concept work, we examined the potential of the fluorescent dye C11-BODIPY(591/581) to probe lipid oxidation in the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. C11-BODIPY(591/581) staining was combined with flow cytometry measurements to obtain multiparameter information on cellular features and oxidative stress damage within single cells. First, staining conditions were optimized by exploring the capability of the dye to stain algal cells under increasing cell and dye concentrations and different staining procedures. Then lipid oxidation in algae induced by short- and long-term exposures to the three metallic micropollutants, copper, mercury, and nanoparticulate copper oxide, and the two organic contaminants, diethyldithiocarbamate (DDC) and diuron was determined. In this work we pointed out C11-BODIPY(591/581) applicability in a wide range of exposure conditions, including studies of oxidation as a function of time and that it is suitable for in vivo measurements of lipid oxidation due to its high permeation and stability in cells and its low interference with algal autofluorescence. © 2013 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

An Active, Collaborative Approach to Learning Skills in Flow Cytometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuller, Kathryn; Linden, Matthew D.; Lee-Pullen, Tracey; Fragall, Clayton; Erber, Wendy N.; Röhrig, Kimberley J.

2016-01-01

Advances in science education research have the potential to improve the way students learn to perform scientific interpretations and understand science concepts. We developed active, collaborative activities to teach skills in manipulating flow cytometry data using FlowJo software. Undergraduate students were given compensated clinical flow…

Development of a shear stress-free microfluidic gradient generator capable of quantitatively analyzing single-cell morphology.

PubMed

Barata, David; Spennati, Giulia; Correia, Cristina; Ribeiro, Nelson; Harink, Björn; van Blitterswijk, Clemens; Habibovic, Pamela; van Rijt, Sabine

2017-09-07

Microfluidics, the science of engineering fluid streams at the micrometer scale, offers unique tools for creating and controlling gradients of soluble compounds. Gradient generation can be used to recreate complex physiological microenvironments, but is also useful for screening purposes. For example, in a single experiment, adherent cells can be exposed to a range of concentrations of the compound of interest, enabling high-content analysis of cell behaviour and enhancing throughput. In this study, we present the development of a microfluidic screening platform where, by means of diffusion, gradients of soluble compounds can be generated and sustained. This platform enables the culture of adherent cells under shear stress-free conditions, and their exposure to a soluble compound in a concentration gradient-wise manner. The platform consists of five serial cell culture chambers, all coupled to two lateral fluid supply channels that are used for gradient generation through a source-sink mechanism. Furthermore, an additional inlet and outlet are used for cell seeding inside the chambers. Finite element modeling was used for the optimization of the design of the platform and for validation of the dynamics of gradient generation. Then, as a proof-of-concept, human osteosarcoma MG-63 cells were cultured inside the platform and exposed to a gradient of Cytochalasin D, an actin polymerization inhibitor. This set-up allowed us to analyze cell morphological changes over time, including cell area and eccentricity measurements, as a function of Cytochalasin D concentration by using fluorescence image-based cytometry.

CytometryML, an XML format based on DICOM and FCS for analytical cytology data.

PubMed

Leif, Robert C; Leif, Suzanne B; Leif, Stephanie H

2003-07-01

Flow Cytometry Standard (FCS) was initially created to standardize the software researchers use to analyze, transmit, and store data produced by flow cytometers and sorters. Because of the clinical utility of flow cytometry, it is necessary to have a standard consistent with the requirements of medical regulatory agencies. We extended the existing mapping of FCS to the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard to include list-mode data produced by flow cytometry, laser scanning cytometry, and microscopic image cytometry. FCS list-mode was mapped to the DICOM Waveform Information Object. We created a collection of Extensible Markup Language (XML) schemas to express the DICOM analytical cytologic text-based data types except for large binary objects. We also developed a cytometry markup language, CytometryML, in an open environment subject to continuous peer review. The feasibility of expressing the data contained in FCS, including list-mode in DICOM, was demonstrated; and a preliminary mapping for list-mode data in the form of XML schemas and documents was completed. DICOM permitted the creation of indices that can be used to rapidly locate in a list-mode file the cells that are members of a subset. DICOM and its coding schemes for other medical standards can be represented by XML schemas, which can be combined with other relevant XML applications, such as Mathematical Markup Language (MathML). The use of XML format based on DICOM for analytical cytology met most of the previously specified requirements and appears capable of meeting the others; therefore, the present FCS should be retired and replaced by an open, XML-based, standard CytometryML. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Novel Therapeutic and Prophylactic Modalities to Protect U.S. Armed Forces Against Major Biological Threat Agents

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-10-01

using flow cytometry after staining with CBA kit produced by BD-Pharmingen. The CBA kit can simultaneously test 5 inflammatory cytokines that include...or TLR4 transfected cells using flow cytometry . CHOK1 and CHOR1.1 cells were plated out in a 24-well dish and transfected 24 h later with either TLR2...with PE-labeled anti-hTLR2 antibody or PE-isotype control antibody (eBiosciences, CA), and cells were analyzed by flow cytometry . 39 The expression

Rapid susceptibility testing of fungi by flow cytometry using vital staining.

PubMed Central

Wenisch, C; Linnau, K F; Parschalk, B; Zedtwitz-Liebenstein, K; Georgopoulos, A

1997-01-01

A 1-h assay for antifungal susceptibility testing measuring the impairment of fungal metabolic activity was developed. Yeast viability was analyzed by flow cytometry with a novel fluorescent probe, FUN-1, which emits a red fluorescence when the yeast is metabolically active. For nine Candida albicans strains tested, this method yielded results comparable to those obtained by the standard M27 procedure for amphotericin B, flucytosine, fluconazole, and ketoconazole. Whether the flow cytometry antifungal susceptibility test results correlate with the in vivo activities of the drugs remains to determined. PMID:8968873

Examination pf Potential Anti-Tumor Activity of N-Thiolated B-Lactam Antibiotics in Nude Mice Bearing Human Breast Tumors

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-08-01

temperature in the dark, and then analyzed by flow cytometry within 3 hr of staining. 2.7. Caspase-3/-7 activity assay To measure cell-free caspase-3/-7...were treated with 50 mM of lactam 12 for the indicated hours. (A) Measurement of sub-G1 DNA content by flow cytometry analysis. The percentage of sub...Daniel for critical reading of the manuscript. We also appreciate the assistance of the Flow Cytometry Core at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center

The use of flow cytometry to monitor chitin synthesis in regenerating protoplasts of Candida albicans.

PubMed

Hector, R F; Braun, P C; Hart, J T; Kamarck, M E

1990-01-01

Flow cytometry was used to monitor chitin synthesis in regenerating protoplasts of the yeast Candida albicans. Comparisons of cells stained with Calcofluor White, a fluorochrome with known affinity for chitin, and cells incubated in the presence of N-[3H]-acetylglucosamine, the precursor substrate for chitin, showed a linear relationship between fluorescence and incorporation of label over time. Changes in both the fluorescence and light scatter of regenerating protoplasts treated with inhibitors of fungal chitin synthase were also quantitated by flow cytometry.

In Vivo Biochemistry: Single-Cell Dynamics of Cyclic Di-GMP in Escherichia coli in Response to Zinc Overload.

PubMed

Yeo, Jongchan; Dippel, Andrew B; Wang, Xin C; Hammond, Ming C

2018-01-09

Intracellular signaling enzymes drive critical changes in cellular physiology and gene expression, but their endogenous activities in vivo remain highly challenging to study in real time and for individual cells. Here we show that flow cytometry can be performed in complex media to monitor single-cell population distributions and dynamics of cyclic di-GMP signaling, which controls the bacterial colonization program. These in vivo biochemistry experiments are enabled by our second-generation RNA-based fluorescent (RBF) biosensors, which exhibit high fluorescence turn-on in response to cyclic di-GMP. Specifically, we demonstrate that intracellular levels of cyclic di-GMP in Escherichia coli are repressed with excess zinc, but not with other divalent metals. Furthermore, in both flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy setups, we monitor the dynamic increase in cellular cyclic di-GMP levels upon zinc depletion and show that this response is due to de-repression of the endogenous diguanylate cyclase DgcZ. In the presence of zinc, cells exhibit enhanced cell motility and increased sensitivity to antibiotics due to inhibited biofilm formation. Taken together, these results showcase the application of RBF biosensors in visualizing single-cell dynamic changes in cyclic di-GMP signaling in direct response to environmental cues such as zinc and highlight our ability to assess whether observed phenotypes are related to specific signaling enzymes and pathways.

Barcoding of live human peripheral blood mononuclear cells for multiplexed mass cytometry.

PubMed

Mei, Henrik E; Leipold, Michael D; Schulz, Axel Ronald; Chester, Cariad; Maecker, Holden T

2015-02-15

Mass cytometry is developing as a means of multiparametric single-cell analysis. In this study, we present an approach to barcoding separate live human PBMC samples for combined preparation and acquisition on a cytometry by time of flight instrument. Using six different anti-CD45 Ab conjugates labeled with Pd104, Pd106, Pd108, Pd110, In113, and In115, respectively, we barcoded up to 20 samples with unique combinations of exactly three different CD45 Ab tags. Cell events carrying more than or less than three different tags were excluded from analyses during Boolean data deconvolution, allowing for precise sample assignment and the electronic removal of cell aggregates. Data from barcoded samples matched data from corresponding individually stained and acquired samples, at cell event recoveries similar to individual sample analyses. The approach greatly reduced technical noise and minimizes unwanted cell doublet events in mass cytometry data, and it reduces wet work and Ab consumption. It also eliminates sample-to-sample carryover and the requirement of instrument cleaning between samples, thereby effectively reducing overall instrument runtime. Hence, CD45 barcoding facilitates accuracy of mass cytometric immunophenotyping studies, thus supporting biomarker discovery efforts, and it should be applicable to fluorescence flow cytometry as well. Copyright © 2015 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.

In vivo plant flow cytometry: A first proof-of-concept

PubMed Central

Nedosekin, Dmitry A.; Khodakovskaya, Mariya V.; Biris, Alexandru S.; Wang, Daoyuan; Xu, Yang; Villagarcia, Hector; Galanzha, Ekaterina I.; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2011-01-01

In vivo flow cytometry has facilitated advances in the ultrasensitive detection of tumor cells, bacteria, nanoparticles, dyes, and other normal and abnormal objects directly in blood and lymph circulatory systems. Here, we propose in vivo plant flow cytometry for the real-time noninvasive study of nanomaterial transport in xylem and phloem plant vascular systems. As a proof of this concept, we demonstrate in vivo real-time photoacoustic monitoring of quantum dot-carbon nanotube conjugate uptake and uptake by roots and spreading through stem to leaves in a tomato plant. In addition, in vivo scanning cytometry using multimodal photoacoustic, photothermal, and fluorescent detection schematics provided multiplex detection and identification of nanoparticles accumulated in plant leaves in the presence of intensive absorption, scattering, and autofluorescent backgrounds. The use of a portable fiber-based photoacoustic flow cytometer for studies of plant vasculature was demonstrated. These integrated cytometry modalities using both endogenous and exogenous contrast agents have a potential to open new avenues of in vivo study of the nutrients, products of photosynthesis and metabolism, nanoparticles, infectious agents, and other objects transported through plant vasculature. PMID:21905208

Isolation of purified oocyst walls and sporocysts from Toxoplasma gondii.

PubMed

Everson, William V; Ware, Michael W; Dubey, J P; Lindquist, H D Alan

2002-01-01

Toxoplasma gondii oocysts are environmentally resistant and can infect virtually all warm-blooded hosts, including humans and livestock. Little is known about the biochemical basis for this resistance of oocysts, and mechanism for excystation of T. gondii sporozoites. The objective of the present study was to evaluate different methods (mechanical fragmentation, gradients, flow cytometry) to separate and purify T. gondii oocyst walls and sporocysts. Oocyst walls were successfully separated and purified using iodixanol gradients. Sporocysts were successfully separated and purified using iodixanol and Percoll gradients. Purification was also achieved by flow cytometry. Flow cytometry with fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) yielded analytical quantities of oocyst walls and intact sporocysts. Flow cytometry with FACS also proved useful for quantitation of purity obtained following iodixanol gradient fractionation. Methods reported in this paper will be useful for analytical purposes, such as proteomic analysis of components unique to this life cycle stage, development of detection methods, or excystation studies.

Methodology and application of flow cytometry for investigation of human malaria parasites.

PubMed

Grimberg, Brian T

2011-03-31

Historically, examinations of the inhibition of malaria parasite growth/invasion, whether using drugs or antibodies, have relied on the use of microscopy or radioactive hypoxanthine uptake. These are considered gold standards for measuring the effectiveness of antimalarial treatments, however, these methods have well known shortcomings. With the advent of flow cytometry coupled with the use of fluorescent DNA stains allowed for increased speed, reproducibility, and qualitative estimates of the effectiveness of antibodies and drugs to limit malaria parasite growth which addresses the challenges of traditional techniques. Because materials and machines available to research facilities are so varied, different methods have been developed to investigate malaria parasites by flow cytometry. This review is intended to serve as a reference guide for advanced users and importantly, as a primer for new users, to support expanded use and improvements to malaria flow cytometry, particularly in endemic countries. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Detection and quantification of Epstein-Barr virus EBER1 in EBV-infected cells by fluorescent in situ hybridization and flow cytometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stowe, R. P.; Cubbage, M. L.; Sams, C. F.; Pierson, D. L.; Barrett, A. D.

1998-01-01

A rapid and highly sensitive fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) assay was developed to detect Epstein Barr virus (EBV)-infected cells in peripheral blood. Multiple fluorescein-labeled antisense oligonucleotide probes were designed to hybridize to the EBER1 transcript, which is highly expressed in latently infected cells. After a rapid (30 min) hybridization, the cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. EBER1 was detected in several positive control cell lines that have variable numbers of EBV genome copies. No EBER1 was detected in two known EBV-negative cell lines. Northern blot analyses confirmed the presence and quantity of EBER1 transcripts in each cell line. This method was used to quantify the number of EBV-infected cells in peripheral blood from a patient with chronic mononucleosis. These results indicate that EBV-infected cells can be detected at the single cell level, and that this assay can be used to quantify the number of EBV-infected cells in clinical samples.

[Isolation and identification of human periodontal ligament stem cells in vitro].

PubMed

Shen, Tao; Chang, Hui-jun; Jian, Cong-xiang; Yang, Yan-chun; Zhou, Ji-xiang

2011-02-01

To isolate and identify human periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSC) by improved methods and assess the characteristics of PDLSC ex vivo. The periodontal ligament cells were obtained from the healthy impacted third molars and teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes and used to isolate PDLSC by limiting dilution assay. PDLSC were cultured and expanded in alpha-MEM supplemented with 10% FBS. Colony-forming assay, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry, osteogenic and adipogenic induction were used to identify PDLSC. The obtained cells had high colony-forming efficiency and were positive staining for vimentin and negative for pancytokeratin. Flow cytometry revealed that the isolated cells were positive for STRO-1 and CD146 antibodies and most were in the G0/G1 phase of cell cycle. Under specific conditions, they could differentiate to the osteoblast and adipocyte lineages in vitro. Limiting dilution assay is an effective method to isolate PDLSC and the single-cell-derived colonies demonstrate the properties of stem cells in vitro.

Hematologic and lymphocyte immunophenotypic reference values for normal rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) umbilical cord blood; gravidity may play a role in study design.

PubMed

Rogers, Linda B; Kaack, M Bernice; Henson, Michael C; Rasmussen, Terri; Henson, Elizabeth; Veazey, Ronald S; Krogstad, Donald J; Davison, Billie B

2005-06-01

Hematology and flow cytometry reference values for rhesus umbilical cord blood (UCB) were established in 17 healthy infant rhesus monkeys delivered by elective cesarean section 10 days preterm. The infants were born to age matched, singly caged primigravid or secundigravid dams. The hematology and flow cytometry values were determined by automated cell counter and by FACS. No significant differences were observed with respect to infant gender. With respect to gravida, the primigravid infants had a significantly higher percentage (P= 0.05) of CD20(+) B lymphocytes in UCB. These results provide useful reference values for future studies of maternal - fetal disease transmission, vaccine and drug evaluation in non-human primate pregnancy, as well as fetal programming and immune modulation, gene therapy and the use of UCB as a source of stem cells for research and transplantation. Importantly, our results suggest that maternal gravidity may be an important variable to consider.

Alternatives to current flow cytometry data analysis for clinical and research studies.

PubMed

Gondhalekar, Carmen; Rajwa, Bartek; Patsekin, Valery; Ragheb, Kathy; Sturgis, Jennifer; Robinson, J Paul

2018-02-01

Flow cytometry has well-established methods for data analysis based on traditional data collection techniques. These techniques typically involved manual insertion of tube samples into an instrument that, historically, could only measure 1-3 colors. The field has since evolved to incorporate new technologies for faster and highly automated sample preparation and data collection. For example, the use of microwell plates on benchtop instruments is now a standard on virtually every new instrument, and so users can easily accumulate multiple data sets quickly. Further, because the user must carefully define the layout of the plate, this information is already defined when considering the analytical process, expanding the opportunities for automated analysis. Advances in multi-parametric data collection, as demonstrated by the development of hyperspectral flow-cytometry, 20-40 color polychromatic flow cytometry, and mass cytometry (CyTOF), are game-changing. As data and assay complexity increase, so too does the complexity of data analysis. Complex data analysis is already a challenge to traditional flow cytometry software. New methods for reviewing large and complex data sets can provide rapid insight into processes difficult to define without more advanced analytical tools. In settings such as clinical labs where rapid and accurate data analysis is a priority, rapid, efficient and intuitive software is needed. This paper outlines opportunities for analysis of complex data sets using examples of multiplexed bead-based assays, drug screens and cell cycle analysis - any of which could become integrated into the clinical environment. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Flow Cytometry Sorting to Separate Viable Giant Viruses from Amoeba Co-culture Supernatants

PubMed Central

Khalil, Jacques Y. B.; Langlois, Thierry; Andreani, Julien; Sorraing, Jean-Marc; Raoult, Didier; Camoin, Laurence; La Scola, Bernard

2017-01-01

Flow cytometry has contributed to virology but has faced many drawbacks concerning detection limits, due to the small size of viral particles. Nonetheless, giant viruses changed many concepts in the world of viruses, as a result of their size and hence opened up the possibility of using flow cytometry to study them. Recently, we developed a high throughput isolation of viruses using flow cytometry and protozoa co-culture. Consequently, isolating a viral mixture in the same sample became more common. Nevertheless, when one virus multiplies faster than others in the mixture, it is impossible to obtain a pure culture of the minority population. Here, we describe a robust sorting system, which can separate viable giant virus mixtures from supernatants. We tested three flow cytometry sorters by sorting artificial mixtures. Purity control was assessed by electron microscopy and molecular biology. As proof of concept, we applied the sorting system to a co-culture supernatant taken from a sample containing a viral mixture that we couldn't separate using end point dilution. In addition to isolating the quick-growing Mimivirus, we sorted and re-cultured a new, slow-growing virus, which we named “Cedratvirus.” The sorting assay presented in this paper is a powerful and versatile tool for separating viral populations from amoeba co-cultures and adding value to the new field of flow virometry. PMID:28111619

Flow Cytometry Sorting to Separate Viable Giant Viruses from Amoeba Co-culture Supernatants.

PubMed

Khalil, Jacques Y B; Langlois, Thierry; Andreani, Julien; Sorraing, Jean-Marc; Raoult, Didier; Camoin, Laurence; La Scola, Bernard

2016-01-01

Flow cytometry has contributed to virology but has faced many drawbacks concerning detection limits, due to the small size of viral particles. Nonetheless, giant viruses changed many concepts in the world of viruses, as a result of their size and hence opened up the possibility of using flow cytometry to study them. Recently, we developed a high throughput isolation of viruses using flow cytometry and protozoa co-culture. Consequently, isolating a viral mixture in the same sample became more common. Nevertheless, when one virus multiplies faster than others in the mixture, it is impossible to obtain a pure culture of the minority population. Here, we describe a robust sorting system, which can separate viable giant virus mixtures from supernatants. We tested three flow cytometry sorters by sorting artificial mixtures. Purity control was assessed by electron microscopy and molecular biology. As proof of concept, we applied the sorting system to a co-culture supernatant taken from a sample containing a viral mixture that we couldn't separate using end point dilution. In addition to isolating the quick-growing Mimivirus , we sorted and re-cultured a new, slow-growing virus, which we named "Cedratvirus." The sorting assay presented in this paper is a powerful and versatile tool for separating viral populations from amoeba co-cultures and adding value to the new field of flow virometry.

Flow cytometric HyPer-based assay for hydrogen peroxide.

PubMed

Lyublinskaya, O G; Antonov, S A; Gorokhovtsev, S G; Pugovkina, N A; Kornienko, Ju S; Ivanova, Ju S; Shatrova, A N; Aksenov, N D; Zenin, V V; Nikolsky, N N

2018-05-30

HyPer is a genetically encoded fluorogenic sensor for hydrogen peroxide which is generally used for the ratiometric imaging of H 2 O 2 fluxes in living cells. Here, we demonstrate the advantages of HyPer-based ratiometric flow cytometry assay for H 2 O 2 , by using K562 and human mesenchymal stem cell lines expressing HyPer. We show that flow cytometry analysis is suitable to detect HyPer response to submicromolar concentrations of extracellularly added H 2 O 2 that is much lower than concentrations addressed previously in the other HyPer-based assays (such as cell imaging or fluorimetry). Suggested technique is also much more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide than the widespread flow cytometry assay exploiting H 2 O 2 -reactive dye H 2 DCFDA and, contrary to the H 2 DCFDA-based assay, can be employed for the kinetic studies of H 2 O 2 utilization by cells, including measurements of the rate constants of H 2 O 2 removal. In addition, flow cytometry multi-parameter ratiometric measurements enable rapid and high-throughput detection of endogenously generated H 2 O 2 in different subpopulations of HyPer-expressing cells. To sum up, HyPer can be used in multi-parameter flow cytometry studies as a highly sensitive indicator of intracellular H 2 O 2 . Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Extracting Cell Stiffness from Real-Time Deformability Cytometry: Theory and Experiment.

PubMed

Mietke, Alexander; Otto, Oliver; Girardo, Salvatore; Rosendahl, Philipp; Taubenberger, Anna; Golfier, Stefan; Ulbricht, Elke; Aland, Sebastian; Guck, Jochen; Fischer-Friedrich, Elisabeth

2015-11-17

Cell stiffness is a sensitive indicator of physiological and pathological changes in cells, with many potential applications in biology and medicine. A new method, real-time deformability cytometry, probes cell stiffness at high throughput by exposing cells to a shear flow in a microfluidic channel, allowing for mechanical phenotyping based on single-cell deformability. However, observed deformations of cells in the channel not only are determined by cell stiffness, but also depend on cell size relative to channel size. Here, we disentangle mutual contributions of cell size and cell stiffness to cell deformation by a theoretical analysis in terms of hydrodynamics and linear elasticity theory. Performing real-time deformability cytometry experiments on both model spheres of known elasticity and biological cells, we demonstrate that our analytical model not only predicts deformed shapes inside the channel but also allows for quantification of cell mechanical parameters. Thereby, fast and quantitative mechanical sampling of large cell populations becomes feasible. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Extracting Cell Stiffness from Real-Time Deformability Cytometry: Theory and Experiment

PubMed Central

Mietke, Alexander; Otto, Oliver; Girardo, Salvatore; Rosendahl, Philipp; Taubenberger, Anna; Golfier, Stefan; Ulbricht, Elke; Aland, Sebastian; Guck, Jochen; Fischer-Friedrich, Elisabeth

2015-01-01

Cell stiffness is a sensitive indicator of physiological and pathological changes in cells, with many potential applications in biology and medicine. A new method, real-time deformability cytometry, probes cell stiffness at high throughput by exposing cells to a shear flow in a microfluidic channel, allowing for mechanical phenotyping based on single-cell deformability. However, observed deformations of cells in the channel not only are determined by cell stiffness, but also depend on cell size relative to channel size. Here, we disentangle mutual contributions of cell size and cell stiffness to cell deformation by a theoretical analysis in terms of hydrodynamics and linear elasticity theory. Performing real-time deformability cytometry experiments on both model spheres of known elasticity and biological cells, we demonstrate that our analytical model not only predicts deformed shapes inside the channel but also allows for quantification of cell mechanical parameters. Thereby, fast and quantitative mechanical sampling of large cell populations becomes feasible. PMID:26588562

Label-free counting of circulating cells by in vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Quanyu; Yang, Ping; Wang, Qiyan; Pang, Kai; Zhou, Hui; He, Hao; Wei, Xunbin

2018-02-01

Melanoma, developing from melanocytes, is the most serious type of skin cancer. Circulating melanoma cells, the prognosis marker for metastasis, are present in the circulation at the early stage. Thus, quantitative detection of rare circulating melanoma cells is essential for monitoring tumor metastasis and prognosis evaluation. Compared with in vitro assays, in vivo flow cytometry is able to identify circulating tumor cells without drawing blood. Here, we built in vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry based on the high absorption coefficient of melanoma cells, which is applied to labelfree counting of circulating melanoma cells in tumor-bearing mice.

In Vivo Myeloperoxidase Imaging and Flow Cytometry Analysis of Intestinal Myeloid Cells.

PubMed

Hülsdünker, Jan; Zeiser, Robert

2016-01-01

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) imaging is a non-invasive method to detect cells that produce the enzyme MPO that is most abundant in neutrophils, macrophages, and inflammatory monocytes. While lacking specificity for any of these three cell types, MPO imaging can provide guidance for further flow cytometry-based analysis of tissues where these cell types reside. Isolation of leukocytes from the intestinal tract is an error-prone procedure. Here, we describe a protocol for intestinal leukocyte isolation that works reliable in our hands and allows for flow cytometry-based analysis, in particular of neutrophils.

Critical Role of CD8 T Cells in Mediating Sex-Based Differences in a Murine Model of Lupus

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-08-21

into  female  transfers  (fF)  mice  that  was  reduced  in  CD8  depleted  fF  mice.  Flow   cytometry   analysis  showed increased numbers of splenic...splenocytes were first analyzed by flow cytometry for CD4 and CD8 T cells and F1 mice received either: a) unfractionated splenocytes (CD8 intactF1...using magnetic beads purchased from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Flow cytometry analysis before cell

Detection and characterization of invasive circulating tumor cells derived from men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

PubMed

Friedlander, Terence W; Ngo, Vy T; Dong, Huan; Premasekharan, Gayatri; Weinberg, Vivian; Doty, Shaun; Zhao, Qiang; Gilbert, Elizabeth G; Ryan, Charles J; Chen, Wen-Tien; Paris, Pamela L

2014-05-15

The Vitatex cell-adhesion matrix (CAM) platform allows for isolation of invasive circulating tumor cells (iCTCs). Here we sought to determine the utility of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) as a metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) iCTC biomarker, to identify solitary cells and clusters of iCTCs expressing either epithelial, mesenchymal, or stem cell markers, and to explore the feasibility of iCTC epigenomic analysis. CTCs were isolated and enumerated simultaneously using the Vitatex and CellSearch platforms in 23 men with mCRPC. CAM-avid iCTCs were identified as nucleated cells capable of CAM uptake, but without detectable expression of hematopoietic lineage (HL) markers including CD45. iCTCs were enumerated immunocytochemically (ICC) and by flow cytometry. Whole-genome methylation status was determined for iCTCs using the Illumina HumanMethylation27 BeadChip. Thirty-four samples were collected for iCTC analysis. A median of 27 (range 0-800) and 23 (range 2-390) iCTCs/mL were detected by ICC and flow, respectively. In a subset of 20 samples, a median of seven CTCs/mL (range 0-85) were detected by the CellSearch platform compared to 26 by the CAM platform. iCTC clusters were observed in 17% of samples. iCTCs expressing PSMA as well as markers of EMT and stemness were detectable. The iCTC methylation profile highly resembled mCRPC. More CTCs were recovered using the CAM platform than the CellSearch platform, and the CAM platform allowed for the detection of iCTC clusters, iCTCs expressing EMT and stem-cell markers, and characterization of the iCTC methylome. Correlation with clinical data in future studies may yield further insight into the functional significance of these findings. © 2013 UICC.

Fluorogenic Green-Inside Red-Outside (GIRO) Labeling Approach Reveals Adenylyl Cyclase-Dependent Control of BKα Surface Expression

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

The regulation of surface levels of protein is critical for proper cell function and influences properties including cell adhesion, ion channel contributions to current flux, and the sensitivity of surface receptors to ligands. Here we demonstrate a two-color labeling system in live cells using a single fluorogen activating peptide (FAP) based fusion tag, which enables the rapid and simultaneous quantification of surface and internal proteins. In the nervous system, BK channels can regulate neural excitability and neurotransmitter release, and the surface trafficking of BK channels can be modulated by signaling cascades and assembly with accessory proteins. Using this labeling approach, we examine the dynamics of BK channel surface expression in HEK293 cells. Surface pools of the pore-forming BKα subunit were stable, exhibiting a plasma membrane half-life of >10 h. Long-term activation of adenylyl cyclase by forskolin reduced BKα surface levels by 30%, an effect that could not be attributed to increased bulk endocytosis of plasma membrane proteins. This labeling approach is compatible with microscopic imaging and flow cytometry, providing a solid platform for examining protein trafficking in living cells. PMID:26301573

Value of HIV patients with regular follow-up as in-house internal controls of flow cytometry measurement of lymphocyte subsets.

PubMed

de Carvalho Bittencourt, Marcelo; Kohler, Chantal; Henard, Sandrine; Rabaud, Christian; Béné, Marie C; Faure, Gilbert C

2013-01-01

Quality assessment in flow cytometry cannot obey the same rules as those applicable to the measurement of chemical analytes. However, regular follow-up of known patients may provide a robust in-house control of cell subsets evaluation. Sequential blood samples assessed for 32 HIV patients over several years and showing good stability were retrospectively assessed to establish coefficient of variations of the percentages of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ cells, and CD4+ absolute counts (ACs). Mean relative standard variations for the whole cohort were of 0.04, 0.14, 0.08, and 0.18 for CD3%, CD4%, CD8%, and CD4 ACs, respectively. In-house follow-up of regularly checked compliant patients is a good alternative to traditional and costly repeatability and reproducibility studies for the validation of routine flow cytometry. © 2013 International Clinical Cytometry Society. Copyright © 2013 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Value of HIV patients with regular follow-up as in-house internal controls of flow cytometry measurement of lymphocyte subsets.

PubMed

de Carvalho Bittencourt, Marcelo; Kohler, Chantal; Henard, Sandrine; Rabaud, Christian; Béné, Marie C; Faure, Gilbert C

2013-07-08

Background. Quality assessment in flow cytometry cannot obey the same rules as those applicable to the measurement of chemical analytes. However, regular follow-up of known patients may provide a robust in-house control of cell subsets evaluation. Methods. Sequential blood samples assessed for 32 HIV patients over several years and showing good stability were retrospectively assessed to establish coefficient of variations of the percentages of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ cells and CD4+ absolute counts. Results. Mean relative standard variations for the whole cohort were of 0.04, 0.14, 0.08 and 0.18 for CD3%, CD4% CD8% and CD4 absolute counts respectively. Discussion. In-house follow up of regularly checked compliant patients is a good alternative to traditional and costly repeatability and reproducibility studies for the validation of routine flow cytometry. © 2013 Clinical Cytometry Society. Copyright © 2013 Clinical Cytometry Society.

Barcoding of live human PBMC for multiplexed mass cytometry*

PubMed Central

Mei, Henrik E.; Leipold, Michael D.; Schulz, Axel Ronald; Chester, Cariad; Maecker, Holden T.

2014-01-01

Mass cytometry is developing as a means of multiparametric single cell analysis. Here, we present an approach to barcoding separate live human PBMC samples for combined preparation and acquisition on a CyTOF® instrument. Using six different anti-CD45 antibody (Ab) conjugates labeled with Pd104, Pd106, Pd108, Pd110, In113, and In115, respectively, we barcoded up to 20 samples with unique combinations of exactly three different CD45 Ab tags. Cell events carrying more than or less than three different tags were excluded from analyses during Boolean data deconvolution, allowing for precise sample assignment and the electronic removal of cell aggregates. Data from barcoded samples matched data from corresponding individually stained and acquired samples, at cell event recoveries similar to individual sample analyses. The approach greatly reduced technical noise and minimizes unwanted cell doublet events in mass cytometry data, and reduces wet work and antibody consumption. It also eliminates sample-to-sample carryover and the requirement of instrument cleaning between samples, thereby effectively reducing overall instrument runtime. Hence, CD45-barcoding facilitates accuracy of mass cytometric immunophenotyping studies, thus supporting biomarker discovery efforts, and should be applicable to fluorescence flow cytometry as well. PMID:25609839

OpenCyto: An Open Source Infrastructure for Scalable, Robust, Reproducible, and Automated, End-to-End Flow Cytometry Data Analysis

PubMed Central

Finak, Greg; Frelinger, Jacob; Jiang, Wenxin; Newell, Evan W.; Ramey, John; Davis, Mark M.; Kalams, Spyros A.; De Rosa, Stephen C.; Gottardo, Raphael

2014-01-01

Flow cytometry is used increasingly in clinical research for cancer, immunology and vaccines. Technological advances in cytometry instrumentation are increasing the size and dimensionality of data sets, posing a challenge for traditional data management and analysis. Automated analysis methods, despite a general consensus of their importance to the future of the field, have been slow to gain widespread adoption. Here we present OpenCyto, a new BioConductor infrastructure and data analysis framework designed to lower the barrier of entry to automated flow data analysis algorithms by addressing key areas that we believe have held back wider adoption of automated approaches. OpenCyto supports end-to-end data analysis that is robust and reproducible while generating results that are easy to interpret. We have improved the existing, widely used core BioConductor flow cytometry infrastructure by allowing analysis to scale in a memory efficient manner to the large flow data sets that arise in clinical trials, and integrating domain-specific knowledge as part of the pipeline through the hierarchical relationships among cell populations. Pipelines are defined through a text-based csv file, limiting the need to write data-specific code, and are data agnostic to simplify repetitive analysis for core facilities. We demonstrate how to analyze two large cytometry data sets: an intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) data set from a published HIV vaccine trial focused on detecting rare, antigen-specific T-cell populations, where we identify a new subset of CD8 T-cells with a vaccine-regimen specific response that could not be identified through manual analysis, and a CyTOF T-cell phenotyping data set where a large staining panel and many cell populations are a challenge for traditional analysis. The substantial improvements to the core BioConductor flow cytometry packages give OpenCyto the potential for wide adoption. It can rapidly leverage new developments in computational cytometry and facilitate reproducible analysis in a unified environment. PMID:25167361

OpenCyto: an open source infrastructure for scalable, robust, reproducible, and automated, end-to-end flow cytometry data analysis.

PubMed

Finak, Greg; Frelinger, Jacob; Jiang, Wenxin; Newell, Evan W; Ramey, John; Davis, Mark M; Kalams, Spyros A; De Rosa, Stephen C; Gottardo, Raphael

2014-08-01

Flow cytometry is used increasingly in clinical research for cancer, immunology and vaccines. Technological advances in cytometry instrumentation are increasing the size and dimensionality of data sets, posing a challenge for traditional data management and analysis. Automated analysis methods, despite a general consensus of their importance to the future of the field, have been slow to gain widespread adoption. Here we present OpenCyto, a new BioConductor infrastructure and data analysis framework designed to lower the barrier of entry to automated flow data analysis algorithms by addressing key areas that we believe have held back wider adoption of automated approaches. OpenCyto supports end-to-end data analysis that is robust and reproducible while generating results that are easy to interpret. We have improved the existing, widely used core BioConductor flow cytometry infrastructure by allowing analysis to scale in a memory efficient manner to the large flow data sets that arise in clinical trials, and integrating domain-specific knowledge as part of the pipeline through the hierarchical relationships among cell populations. Pipelines are defined through a text-based csv file, limiting the need to write data-specific code, and are data agnostic to simplify repetitive analysis for core facilities. We demonstrate how to analyze two large cytometry data sets: an intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) data set from a published HIV vaccine trial focused on detecting rare, antigen-specific T-cell populations, where we identify a new subset of CD8 T-cells with a vaccine-regimen specific response that could not be identified through manual analysis, and a CyTOF T-cell phenotyping data set where a large staining panel and many cell populations are a challenge for traditional analysis. The substantial improvements to the core BioConductor flow cytometry packages give OpenCyto the potential for wide adoption. It can rapidly leverage new developments in computational cytometry and facilitate reproducible analysis in a unified environment.

Flow cytometry microscopy and hyperspectral imaging of microcystis, cyanobacteria and algae

EPA Science Inventory

The detection of algae and cyanobacteria is an important step in assessing water quality. Studies were initiated using microscopy, flow cytometry and hyperspectral imaging with two fresh water species that could be grown in the laboratory: Microcystis Aeruginosa (cyanobacteria),...

BRAF and MEK inhibitor therapy eliminates nestin expressing melanoma cells in human tumors.

PubMed

Doxie, Deon B; Greenplate, Allison R; Gandelman, Jocelyn S; Diggins, Kirsten E; Roe, Caroline E; Dahlman, Kimberly B; Sosman, Jeffrey A; Kelley, Mark C; Irish, Jonathan M

2018-05-19

Little is known about the in vivo impacts of targeted therapy on melanoma cell abundance and protein expression. Here, 21 antibodies were added to an established melanoma mass cytometry panel to measure 32 cellular features, distinguish malignant cells, and characterize dabrafenib and trametinib responses in BRAF V 600mut melanoma. Tumor cells were biopsied before neoadjuvant therapy and compared to cells surgically resected from the same site after 4 weeks of therapy. Approximately 50,000 cells per tumor were characterized by mass cytometry and computational tools t-SNE/viSNE, FlowSOM, and MEM. The resulting single cell view of melanoma treatment response revealed initially heterogeneous melanoma tumors were consistently cleared of Nestin expressing melanoma cells. Melanoma cells subsets that persisted to week 4 were heterogeneous but expressed SOX2 or SOX10 proteins and specifically lacked surface expression of MHC I proteins by MEM analysis. Traditional histology imaging of tissue microarrays from the same tumors confirmed mass cytometry results, including persistence of NES- SOX10+ S100β+ melanoma cells. This quantitative single cell view of melanoma treatment response revealed protein features of malignant cells that are not eliminated by targeted therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A high-throughput AO/PI-based cell concentration and viability detection method using the Celigo image cytometry.

PubMed

Chan, Leo Li-Ying; Smith, Tim; Kumph, Kendra A; Kuksin, Dmitry; Kessel, Sarah; Déry, Olivier; Cribbes, Scott; Lai, Ning; Qiu, Jean

2016-10-01

To ensure cell-based assays are performed properly, both cell concentration and viability have to be determined so that the data can be normalized to generate meaningful and comparable results. Cell-based assays performed in immuno-oncology, toxicology, or bioprocessing research often require measuring of multiple samples and conditions, thus the current automated cell counter that uses single disposable counting slides is not practical for high-throughput screening assays. In the recent years, a plate-based image cytometry system has been developed for high-throughput biomolecular screening assays. In this work, we demonstrate a high-throughput AO/PI-based cell concentration and viability method using the Celigo image cytometer. First, we validate the method by comparing directly to Cellometer automated cell counter. Next, cell concentration dynamic range, viability dynamic range, and consistency are determined. The high-throughput AO/PI method described here allows for 96-well to 384-well plate samples to be analyzed in less than 7 min, which greatly reduces the time required for the single sample-based automated cell counter. In addition, this method can improve the efficiency for high-throughput screening assays, where multiple cell counts and viability measurements are needed prior to performing assays such as flow cytometry, ELISA, or simply plating cells for cell culture.

A Multiplexed Assay That Monitors Effects of Multiple Compound Treatment Times Reveals Candidate Immune-Enhancing Compounds.

PubMed

Zhao, Ziyan; Henowitz, Liza; Zweifach, Adam

2018-05-01

We previously developed a flow cytometry assay that monitored lytic granule exocytosis in cytotoxic T lymphocytes stimulated by contacting beads coated with activating anti-CD3 antibodies. That assay was multiplexed in that responses of cells that did or did not receive the activating stimulus were distinguished via changes in light scatter accompanying binding of cells to beads, allowing us to discriminate compounds that activate responses on their own from compounds that enhance responses in cells that received the activating stimulus, all within a single sample. Here we add a second dimension of multiplexing by developing means to assess in a single sample the effects of treating cells with test compounds for different times. Bar-coding cells before adding them to test wells lets us determine compound treatment time while also monitoring activation status and response amplitude at the point of interrogation. This multiplexed assay is suitable for screening 96-well plates. We used it to screen compounds from the National Cancer Institute, identifying several compounds that enhance anti-LAMP1 responses. Multiple-treatment-time (MTT) screening enabled by bar-coding and read via high-throughput flow cytometry may be a generally useful method for facilitating the discovery of compounds of interest.

Noninvasive High-Throughput Single-Cell Analysis of HIV Protease Activity Using Ratiometric Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Gaber, Rok; Majerle, Andreja; Jerala, Roman; Benčina, Mojca

2013-01-01

To effectively fight against the human immunodeficiency virus infection/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic, ongoing development of novel HIV protease inhibitors is required. Inexpensive high-throughput screening assays are needed to quickly scan large sets of chemicals for potential inhibitors. We have developed a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based, HIV protease-sensitive sensor using a combination of a fluorescent protein pair, namely mCerulean and mCitrine. Through extensive in vitro characterization, we show that the FRET-HIV sensor can be used in HIV protease screening assays. Furthermore, we have used the FRET-HIV sensor for intracellular quantitative detection of HIV protease activity in living cells, which more closely resembles an actual viral infection than an in vitro assay. We have developed a high-throughput method that employs a ratiometric flow cytometry for analyzing large populations of cells that express the FRET-HIV sensor. The method enables FRET measurement of single cells with high sensitivity and speed and should be used when subpopulation-specific intracellular activity of HIV protease needs to be estimated. In addition, we have used a confocal microscopy sensitized emission FRET technique to evaluate the usefulness of the FRET-HIV sensor for spatiotemporal detection of intracellular HIV protease activity. PMID:24287545

Bacteria Hold Their Breath upon Surface Contact as Shown in a Strain of Escherichia coli, Using Dispersed Surfaces and Flow Cytometry Analysis

PubMed Central

Geng, Jing; Beloin, Christophe; Ghigo, Jean-Marc; Henry, Nelly

2014-01-01

Bacteria are ubiquitously distributed throughout our planet, mainly in the form of adherent communities in which cells exhibit specific traits. The mechanisms underpinning the physiological shift in surface-attached bacteria are complex, multifactorial and still partially unclear. Here we address the question of the existence of early surface sensing through implementation of a functional response to initial surface contact. For this purpose, we developed a new experimental approach enabling simultaneous monitoring of free-floating, aggregated and adherent cells via the use of dispersed surfaces as adhesive substrates and flow cytometry analysis. With this system, we analyzed, in parallel, the constitutively expressed GFP content of the cells and production of a respiration probe—a fluorescent reduced tetrazolium ion. In an Escherichia coli strain constitutively expressing curli, a major E. coli adhesin, we found that single cell surface contact induced a decrease in the cell respiration level compared to free-floating single cells present in the same sample. Moreover, we show here that cell surface contact with an artificial surface and with another cell caused reduction in respiration. We confirm the existence of a bacterial cell “sense of touch” ensuring early signalling of surface contact formation through respiration down modulation. PMID:25054429

Development of wide-angle 2D light scattering static cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Linyan; Liu, Qiao; Shao, Changshun; Su, Xuantao

2016-10-01

We have recently developed a 2D light scattering static cytometer for cellular analysis in a label-free manner, which measures side scatter (SSC) light in the polar angular range from 79 to 101 degrees. Compared with conventional flow cytometry, our cytometric technique requires no fluorescent labeling of the cells, and static cytometry measurements can be performed without flow control. In this paper we present an improved label-free static cytometer that can obtain 2D light scattering patterns in a wider angular range. By illuminating the static microspheres on chip with a scanning optical fiber, wide-angle 2D light scattering patterns of single standard microspheres with a mean diameter of 3.87 μm are obtained. The 2D patterns of 3.87 μm microspheres contain both large-angle forward scatter (FSC) and SSC light in the polar angular range from 40 to 100 degrees, approximately. Experimental 2D patterns of 3.87 μm microspheres are in good agreement with Mie theory simulated ones. The wide-angle light scattering measurements may provide a better resolution for particle analysis as compared with the SSC measurements. Two dimensional light scattering patterns of HL-60 human acute leukemia cells are obtained by using our static cytometer. Compared with SSC 2D light scattering patterns, wide-angle 2D patterns contain richer information of the HL-60 cells. The obtaining of 2D light scattering patterns in a wide angular range could help to enhance the capabilities of our label-free static cytometry for cell analysis.

Crystallization of bovine insulin on a flow-free droplet-based platform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Fengjuan; Du, Guanru; Yin, Di; Yin, Ruixue; Zhang, Hongbo; Zhang, Wenjun; Yang, Shih-Mo

2017-03-01

Crystallization is an important process in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry. In this work, we report a study to create the zinc-free crystals of bovine insulin on a flow-free droplet-based platform we previously developed. The benefit of this platform is its promise to create a single type of crystals under a simpler and more stable environment and with a high throughput. The experimental result shows that the bovine insulin forms a rhombic dodecahedra shape and the coefficient variation (CV) in the size of crystals is less than 5%. These results are very promising for the insulin production.

Detection of endogenous alkaline phosphatase activity in intact cells by flow cytometry using the fluorogenic ELF-97 phosphatase substrate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Telford, W. G.; Cox, W. G.; Stiner, D.; Singer, V. L.; Doty, S. B.

1999-01-01

BACKGROUND: The alkaline phosphatase (AP) substrate 2-(5'-chloro-2'-phosphoryloxyphenyl)-6-chloro-4-(3H)-quinazolinone (ELF((R))-97 for enzyme-labeled fluorescence) has been found useful for the histochemical detection of endogenous AP activity and AP-tagged proteins and oligonucleotide probes. In this study, we evaluated its effectiveness at detecting endogenous AP activity by flow cytometry. METHODS: The ELF-97 phosphatase substrate was used to detect endogenous AP activity in UMR-106 rat osteosarcoma cells and primary cultures of chick chondrocytes. Cells were labeled with the ELF-97 reagent and analyzed by flow cytometry using an argon ultraviolet (UV) laser. For comparison purposes, cells were also assayed for AP using a Fast Red Violet LB azo dye assay previously described for use in detecting AP activity by flow cytometry. RESULTS: The ELF-97 phosphatase substrate effectively detected endogenous AP activity in UMR-106 cells, with over 95% of the resulting fluorescent signal resulting from AP-specific activity (as determined by levamisole inhibition of AP activity). In contrast, less than 70% of the fluorescent signal from the Fast Red Violet LB (FRV) assay was AP-dependent, reflecting the high intrinsic fluorescence of the unreacted components. The ELF-97 phosphatase assay was also able to detect very low AP activity in chick chondrocytes that was undetectable by the azo dye method. CONCLUSIONS: The ELF-97 phosphatase assay was able to detect endogenous AP activity in fixed mammalian and avian cells by flow cytometry with superior sensitivity to previously described assays. This work also shows the applicability of ELF-97 to flow cytometry, supplementing its previously demonstrated histochemical applications. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

An accurate method for measuring triploidy of larval fish spawns

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jenkins, Jill A.; Draugelis-Dale, Rassa O.; Glennon, Robert; Kelly, Anita; Brown, Bonnie L.; Morrison, John

2017-01-01

A standard flow cytometric protocol was developed for estimating triploid induction in batches of larval fish. Polyploid induction treatments are not guaranteed to be 100% efficient, thus the ability to quantify the proportion of triploid larvae generated by a particular treatment helps managers to stock high-percentage spawns and researchers to select treatments for efficient triploid induction. At 3 d posthatch, individual Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella were mechanically dissociated into single-cell suspensions; nuclear DNA was stained with propidium iodide then analyzed by flow cytometry. Following ploidy identification of individuals, aliquots of diploid and triploid cell suspensions were mixed to generate 15 levels (0–100%) of known triploidy (n = 10). Using either 20 or 50 larvae per level, the observed triploid percentages were lower than the known, actual values. Using nonlinear regression analyses, quadratic equations solved for triploid proportions in mixed samples and corresponding estimation reference plots allowed for predicting triploidy. Thus, an accurate prediction of the proportion of triploids in a spawn can be made by following a standard larval processing and analysis protocol with either 20 or 50 larvae from a single spawn, coupled with applying the quadratic equations or reference plots to observed flow cytometry results. Due to the universality of triploid DNA content being 1.5 times the diploid level and because triploid fish consist of fewer cells than diploids, this method should be applicable to other produced triploid fish species, and it may be adapted for use with bivalves or other species where batch analysis is appropriate.

Cytometry metadata in XML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.; Leif, Stephanie H.

2016-04-01

Introduction: The International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) has created a standard for the Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt 1.0). CytometryML will serve as a common metadata standard for flow and image cytometry (digital microscopy). Methods: The MIFlowCyt data-types were created, as is the rest of CytometryML, in the XML Schema Definition Language (XSD1.1). The datatypes are primarily based on the Flow Cytometry and the Digital Imaging and Communication (DICOM) standards. A small section of the code was formatted with standard HTML formatting elements (p, h1, h2, etc.). Results:1) The part of MIFlowCyt that describes the Experimental Overview including the specimen and substantial parts of several other major elements has been implemented as CytometryML XML schemas (www.cytometryml.org). 2) The feasibility of using MIFlowCyt to provide the combination of an overview, table of contents, and/or an index of a scientific paper or a report has been demonstrated. Previously, a sample electronic publication, EPUB, was created that could contain both MIFlowCyt metadata as well as the binary data. Conclusions: The use of CytometryML technology together with XHTML5 and CSS permits the metadata to be directly formatted and together with the binary data to be stored in an EPUB container. This will facilitate: formatting, data- mining, presentation, data verification, and inclusion in structured research, clinical, and regulatory documents, as well as demonstrate a publication's adherence to the MIFlowCyt standard, promote interoperability and should also result in the textual and numeric data being published using web technology without any change in composition.

Flow Cytometry, Microscopy and Hyperspectral Imaging of microcystis, Cyanobacteria, and Algae- SETAC

EPA Science Inventory

The detection of cyanobacteria algae, and picoplankton, in water is an important step in assessing water quality. Studies were initiated using fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry and hyperspectral imaging with two fresh water species that were cultured in the laboratory:Micr...

Flow cytometry enables identification of sporophytic eliciting stress treatments in gametic cells.

PubMed

Ribalta, F M; Croser, J S; Ochatt, S J

2012-01-01

Flow cytometry was used to quantify the effect of individual and combined stress treatments on elicitation of androgenesis by analyzing the relative nuclear DNA content of in vitro cultured microspores of Pisum sativum L. Differences in relative nuclear DNA content of microspores within anthers after stress treatments were clearly evident from the flow cytometry profiles, and permitted us to predict whether a combination of stresses were elicitors or enhancers of androgenesis. This is the first report to assess the effect of various stress treatments in a plant species based on relative nuclear DNA content and to use this information to categorize them as 'elicitors' or 'enhancers'. Flow cytometry represents a simple, quick and reliable way to analyze and discriminate the effect of various stress treatments on elicitation of androgenesis. These results form a solid basis for further efforts designed to enhance responses and to extend double haploid technology to other legumes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Sequential glycan profiling at single cell level with the microfluidic lab-in-a-trench platform: a new era in experimental cell biology.

PubMed

O'Connell, Tríona M; King, Damien; Dixit, Chandra K; O'Connor, Brendan; Walls, Dermot; Ducrée, Jens

2014-09-21

It is now widely recognised that the earliest changes that occur on a cell when it is stressed or becoming diseased are alterations in its surface glycosylation. Current state-of-the-art technologies in glycoanalysis include mass spectrometry, protein microarray formats, techniques in cytometry and more recently, glyco-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Glyco-qPCR). Techniques for the glycoprofiling of the surfaces of single cells are either limited to the analysis of large cell populations or are unable to handle multiple and/or sequential probing. Here, we report a novel approach of single live cell glycoprofiling enabled by the microfluidic "Lab-in-a-Trench" (LiaT) platform for performing capture and retention of cells, along with shear-free reagent loading and washing. The significant technical improvement on state-of-the-art is the demonstration of consecutive, spatio-temporally profiling of glycans on a single cell by sequential elution of the previous lectin probe using their corresponding free sugar. We have qualitatively analysed glycan density on the surface of individual cells. This has allowed us to qualitatively co-localise the observed glycans. This approach enables exhaustive glycoprofiling and glycan mapping on the surface of individual live cells with multiple lectins. The possibility of sequentially profiling glycans on cells will be a powerful new tool to add to current glycoanalytical techniques. The LiaT platform will enable cell biologists to perform many high sensitivity assays and also will also make a significant impact on biomarker research.

Comparative analysis of minimal residual disease detection using four-color flow cytometry, consensus IgH-PCR, and quantitative IgH PCR in CLL after allogeneic and autologous stem cell transplantation.

PubMed

Böttcher, S; Ritgen, M; Pott, C; Brüggemann, M; Raff, T; Stilgenbauer, S; Döhner, H; Dreger, P; Kneba, M

2004-10-01

The clinically most suitable method for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection in chronic lymphocytic leukemia is still controversial. We prospectively compared MRD assessment in 158 blood samples of 74 patients with CLL after stem cell transplantation (SCT) using four-color flow cytometry (MRD flow) in parallel with consensus IgH-PCR and ASO IgH real-time PCR (ASO IgH RQ-PCR). In 25 out of 106 samples (23.6%) with a polyclonal consensus IgH-PCR pattern, MRD flow still detected CLL cells, proving higher sensitivity of flow cytometry over PCR-genescanning with consensus IgH-primers. Of 92 samples, 14 (15.2%) analyzed in parallel by MRD flow and by ASO IgH RQ-PCR were negative by our flow cytometric assay but positive by PCR, thus demonstrating superior sensitivity of RQ-PCR with ASO primers. Quantitative MRD levels measured by both methods correlated well (r=0.93). MRD detection by flow and ASO IgH RQ-PCR were equally suitable to monitor MRD kinetics after allogeneic SCT, but the PCR method detected impending relapses after autologous SCT earlier. An analysis of factors that influence sensitivity and specificity of flow cytometry for MRD detection allowed to devise further improvements of this technique.

Asymmetric-detection time-stretch optical microscopy (ATOM) for ultrafast high-contrast cellular imaging in flow

PubMed Central

Wong, Terence T. W.; Lau, Andy K. S.; Ho, Kenneth K. Y.; Tang, Matthew Y. H.; Robles, Joseph D. F.; Wei, Xiaoming; Chan, Antony C. S.; Tang, Anson H. L.; Lam, Edmund Y.; Wong, Kenneth K. Y.; Chan, Godfrey C. F.; Shum, Ho Cheung; Tsia, Kevin K.

2014-01-01

Accelerating imaging speed in optical microscopy is often realized at the expense of image contrast, image resolution, and detection sensitivity – a common predicament for advancing high-speed and high-throughput cellular imaging. We here demonstrate a new imaging approach, called asymmetric-detection time-stretch optical microscopy (ATOM), which can deliver ultrafast label-free high-contrast flow imaging with well delineated cellular morphological resolution and in-line optical image amplification to overcome the compromised imaging sensitivity at high speed. We show that ATOM can separately reveal the enhanced phase-gradient and absorption contrast in microfluidic live-cell imaging at a flow speed as high as ~10 m/s, corresponding to an imaging throughput of ~100,000 cells/sec. ATOM could thus be the enabling platform to meet the pressing need for intercalating optical microscopy in cellular assay, e.g. imaging flow cytometry – permitting high-throughput access to the morphological information of the individual cells simultaneously with a multitude of parameters obtained in the standard assay. PMID:24413677

Immune Response to Mycobacterial Infection: Lessons from Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Rovina, Nikoletta; Panagiotou, Marios; Koulouris, Nikolaos G.

2013-01-01

Detecting and treating active and latent tuberculosis are pivotal elements for effective infection control; yet, due to their significant inherent limitations, the diagnostic means for these two stages of tuberculosis (TB) to date remain suboptimal. This paper reviews the current diagnostic tools for mycobacterial infection and focuses on the application of flow cytometry as a promising method for rapid and reliable diagnosis of mycobacterial infection as well as discrimination between active and latent TB: it summarizes diagnostic biomarkers distinguishing the two states of infection and also features of the distinct immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) at certain stages of infection as revealed by flow cytometry to date. PMID:24376464

Immune response to mycobacterial infection: lessons from flow cytometry.

PubMed

Rovina, Nikoletta; Panagiotou, Marios; Pontikis, Konstantinos; Kyriakopoulou, Magdalini; Koulouris, Nikolaos G; Koutsoukou, Antonia

2013-01-01

Detecting and treating active and latent tuberculosis are pivotal elements for effective infection control; yet, due to their significant inherent limitations, the diagnostic means for these two stages of tuberculosis (TB) to date remain suboptimal. This paper reviews the current diagnostic tools for mycobacterial infection and focuses on the application of flow cytometry as a promising method for rapid and reliable diagnosis of mycobacterial infection as well as discrimination between active and latent TB: it summarizes diagnostic biomarkers distinguishing the two states of infection and also features of the distinct immune response against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) at certain stages of infection as revealed by flow cytometry to date.

Flow cytometry as a rapid test for detection of penicillin resistance directly in bacterial cells in Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus.

PubMed

Jarzembowski, T; Wiśniewska, K; Józwik, A; Bryl, E; Witkowski, J

2008-08-01

We studied the usefulness of flow cytometry for detection of penicillin resistance in E. faecalis and S. aureus by direct binding of commercially available fluorescent penicillin, Bocillin FL, to cells obtained from culture. There were significantly lower percentages of fluorescent cells and median and mean fluorescence values per particle in penicillin-resistant than in penicillin-sensitive strains of both species observed. The method allows rapid detection of penicillin resistance in S. aureus and E. faecalis. The results encourage further investigations on the detection of antibiotic resistance in bacteria using flow cytometry.

Reliable and Accurate CD4+ T Cell Count and Percent by the Portable Flow Cytometer CyFlow MiniPOC and “CD4 Easy Count Kit-Dry”, as Revealed by the Comparison with the Gold Standard Dual Platform Technology

PubMed Central

Nasi, Milena; De Biasi, Sara; Bianchini, Elena; Gibellini, Lara; Pinti, Marcello; Scacchetti, Tiziana; Trenti, Tommaso; Borghi, Vanni; Mussini, Cristina; Cossarizza, Andrea

2015-01-01

Background An accurate and affordable CD4+ T cells count is an essential tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Flow cytometry (FCM) is the “gold standard” for counting such cells, but this technique is expensive and requires sophisticated equipment, temperature-sensitive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and trained personnel. The lack of access to technical support and quality assurance programs thus limits the use of FCM in resource-constrained countries. We have tested the accuracy, the precision and the carry-over contamination of Partec CyFlow MiniPOC, a portable and economically affordable flow cytometer designed for CD4+ count and percentage, used along with the “CD4% Count Kit-Dry”. Materials and Methods Venous blood from 59 adult HIV+ patients (age: 25–58 years; 43 males and 16 females) was collected and stained with the “MiniPOC CD4% Count Kit-Dry”. CD4+ count and percentage were then determined in triplicate by the CyFlow MiniPOC. In parallel, CD4 count was performed using mAbs and a CyFlow Counter, or by a dual platform system (from Beckman Coulter) based upon Cytomic FC500 (“Cytostat tetrachrome kit” for mAbs) and Coulter HmX Hematology Analyzer (for absolute cell count). Results The accuracy of CyFlow MiniPOC against Cytomic FC500 showed a correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.98 and 0.97 for CD4+ count and percentage, respectively. The accuracy of CyFlow MiniPOC against CyFlow Counter showed a CC of 0.99 and 0.99 for CD4 T cell count and percentage, respectively. CyFlow MiniPOC showed an excellent repeatability: CD4+ cell count and percentage were analyzed on two instruments, with an intra-assay precision below ±5% deviation. Finally, there was no carry-over contamination for samples at all CD4 values, regardless of their position in the sequence of analysis. Conclusion The cost-effective CyFlow MiniPOC produces rapid, reliable and accurate results that are fully comparable with those from highly expensive dual platform systems. PMID:25622041

Flow cytometry: a promising technique for the study of silicone oil-induced particulate formation in protein formulations.

PubMed

Ludwig, D Brett; Trotter, Joseph T; Gabrielson, John P; Carpenter, John F; Randolph, Theodore W

2011-03-15

Subvisible particles in formulations intended for parenteral administration are of concern in the biopharmaceutical industry. However, monitoring and control of subvisible particulates can be complicated by formulation components, such as the silicone oil used for the lubrication of prefilled syringes, and it is difficult to differentiate microdroplets of silicone oil from particles formed by aggregated protein. In this study, we demonstrate the ability of flow cytometry to resolve mixtures comprising subvisible bovine serum albumin (BSA) aggregate particles and silicone oil emulsion droplets with adsorbed BSA. Flow cytometry was also used to investigate the effects of silicone oil emulsions on the stability of BSA, lysozyme, abatacept, and trastuzumab formulations containing surfactant, sodium chloride, or sucrose. To aid in particle characterization, the fluorescence detection capabilities of flow cytometry were exploited by staining silicone oil with BODIPY 493/503 and model proteins with Alexa Fluor 647. Flow cytometric analyses revealed that silicone oil emulsions induced the loss of soluble protein via protein adsorption onto the silicone oil droplet surface. The addition of surfactant prevented protein from adsorbing onto the surface of silicone oil droplets. There was minimal formation of homogeneous protein aggregates due to exposure to silicone oil droplets, although oil droplets with surface-adsorbed trastuzumab exhibited flocculation. The results of this study demonstrate the utility of flow cytometry as an analytical tool for monitoring the effects of subvisible silicone oil droplets on the stability of protein formulations. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of flow cytometry to monitor cell damage and predict fermentation activity of dried yeasts.

PubMed

Attfield, P V; Kletsas, S; Veal, D A; van Rooijen, R; Bell, P J

2000-08-01

Viable dried yeast is used as an inoculum for many fermentations in the baking and wine industries. The fermentative activity of yeast in bread dough or grape must is a critical parameter of process efficiency. Here, it is shown that fluorescent stains and flow cytometry can be used in concert to predict the abilities of populations of dried bakers' and wine yeasts to ferment after rehydration. Fluorescent dyes that stain cells only if they have damaged membrane potential (oxonol) or have increased membrane permeability (propidium iodide) were used to analyse, by flow cytometry, populations of rehydrated yeasts. A strong relationship (r2 = 0.99) was found between the percentages of populations staining with the oxonol and the degree of cell membrane damage as measured by the more traditional method of leakage of intracellular compounds. There were also were good negative relationships (r2 > or = 0.83) between fermentation by rehydrated bakers' or wine dry yeasts and percentage of populations staining with either oxonol or propidium iodide. Fluorescent staining with flow cytometry confirmed that factors such as vigour of dried yeast mixing in water, soaking before stirring, rehydration in water or fermentation medium and temperature of rehydration have profound effects on subsequent yeast vitality. These experiments indicate the potential of flow cytometry as a rapid means of predicting the fermentation performance of dried bakers' and wine yeasts.

Novel Methods of Determining Urinary Calculi Composition: Petrographic Thin Sectioning of Calculi and Nanoscale Flow Cytometry Urinalysis

PubMed Central

Gavin, Carson T; Ali, Sohrab N; Tailly, Thomas; Olvera-Posada, Daniel; Alenezi, Husain; Power, Nicholas E; Hou, Jinqiang; St. Amant, Andre H; Luyt, Leonard G; Wood, Stephen; Wu, Charles; Razvi, Hassan; Leong, Hon S

2016-01-01

Accurate determination of urinary stone composition has significant bearing on understanding pathophysiology, choosing treatment modalities and preventing recurrence. A need exists for improved methods to determine stone composition. Urine of 31 patients with known renal calculi was examined with nanoscale flow cytometry and the calculi collected during surgery subsequently underwent petrographic thin sectioning with polarized and fluorescent microscopy. Fluorescently labeled bisphosphonate probes (Alendronate-fluorescein/Alendronate-Cy5) were developed for nanoscale flow cytometry to enumerate nanocrystals that bound the fluorescent probes. Petrographic sections of stones were also imaged by fluorescent and polarized light microscopy with composition analysis correlated to alendronate +ve nanocrystal counts in corresponding urine samples. Urine samples from patients with Ca2+ and Mg2+ based calculi exhibited the highest alendronate +ve nanocrystal counts, ranging from 100–1000 nm in diameter. This novel urine based assay was in agreement with composition determined by petrographic thin sections with Alendronate probes. In some cases, high alendronate +ve nanocrystal counts indicated a Ca2+ or Mg2+ composition, as confirmed by petrographic analysis, overturning initial spectrophotometric diagnosis of stone composition. The combination of nanoscale flow cytometry and petrographic thin sections offer an alternative means for determining stone composition. Nanoscale flow cytometry of alendronate +ve nanocrystals alone may provide a high-throughput means of evaluating stone burden. PMID:26771074

Flow Cytometry Pulse Width Data Enables Rapid and Sensitive Estimation of Biomass Dry Weight in the Microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlorella vulgaris

PubMed Central

Chioccioli, Maurizio; Hankamer, Ben; Ross, Ian L.

2014-01-01

Dry weight biomass is an important parameter in algaculture. Direct measurement requires weighing milligram quantities of dried biomass, which is problematic for small volume systems containing few cells, such as laboratory studies and high throughput assays in microwell plates. In these cases indirect methods must be used, inducing measurement artefacts which vary in severity with the cell type and conditions employed. Here, we utilise flow cytometry pulse width data for the estimation of cell density and biomass, using Chlorella vulgaris and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as model algae and compare it to optical density methods. Measurement of cell concentration by flow cytometry was shown to be more sensitive than optical density at 750 nm (OD750) for monitoring culture growth. However, neither cell concentration nor optical density correlates well to biomass when growth conditions vary. Compared to the growth of C. vulgaris in TAP (tris-acetate-phosphate) medium, cells grown in TAP + glucose displayed a slowed cell division rate and a 2-fold increased dry biomass accumulation compared to growth without glucose. This was accompanied by increased cellular volume. Laser scattering characteristics during flow cytometry were used to estimate cell diameters and it was shown that an empirical but nonlinear relationship could be shown between flow cytometric pulse width and dry weight biomass per cell. This relationship could be linearised by the use of hypertonic conditions (1 M NaCl) to dehydrate the cells, as shown by density gradient centrifugation. Flow cytometry for biomass estimation is easy to perform, sensitive and offers more comprehensive information than optical density measurements. In addition, periodic flow cytometry measurements can be used to calibrate OD750 measurements for both convenience and accuracy. This approach is particularly useful for small samples and where cellular characteristics, especially cell size, are expected to vary during growth. PMID:24832156

Multiplexed and portable nucleic acid detection platform with Cas13, Cas12a, and Csm6

PubMed Central

Gootenberg, Jonathan S.; Abudayyeh, Omar O.; Kellner, Max J.; Joung, Julia; Collins, James J.; Zhang, Feng

2018-01-01

Rapid detection of nucleic acids is integral for clinical diagnostics and biotechnological applications. We recently developed a platform termed SHERLOCK (Specific High Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing) that combines isothermal pre-amplification with Cas13 to detect single molecules of RNA or DNA. Through characterization of CRISPR enzymology and application development, we report here four advances integrated into SHERLOCKv2: 1) 4-channel single reaction multiplexing using orthogonal CRISPR enzymes; 2) quantitative measurement of input down to 2 aM; 3) 3.5-fold increase in signal sensitivity by combining Cas13 with Csm6, an auxilary CRISPR-associated enzyme; and 4) lateral flow read-out. SHERLOCKv2 can detect Dengue or Zika virus ssRNA as well as mutations in patient liquid biopsy samples via lateral flow, highlighting its potential as a multiplexable, portable, rapid, and quantitative detection platform of nucleic acids. PMID:29449508

Annual Progress Report FY-92. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-21

Billups, L Flow Cytom Resh Psychologist 12 0180 CS Hamm, C DCI 7 DESCRIPTION GRADE MOS BRANCH NAME ACTIVITY Kyle Metabolic Unit Nursing Service Supv...3349 Salata, Kalman PhD. Mitogen-Inducible T Suppressor Cell 13 Assay by Flow Cytometry (12/89) 3350 Salata, Kalman PhD. Flow Cytometric Analysis of...17 Immunotherapy (3/90) 3354 Salata, Kalman PhD. Two Way Mixed Lymphocyte Culture: 18 Analysis by Two Color Flow Cytometry (4/90) 3355 Salata, Kalman

Teaching the Microbial Growth Curve Concept Using Microalgal Cultures and Flow Cytometry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Forget, Nathalie; Belzile, Claude; Rioux, Pierre; Nozais, Christian

2010-01-01

The microbial growth curve is widely studied within microbiology classes and bacteria are usually the microbial model used. Here, we describe a novel laboratory protocol involving flow cytometry to assess the growth dynamics of the unicellular microalgae "Isochrysis galbana." The algal model represents an appropriate alternative to…

Targeting the Nociceptin/Orphanin FQ Receptor for Scleroderma Therapy

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

bottom well; the number of migrating cells is quantified by flow cytometry. In the aortic ring assay, freshly isolated thoracic aorta rings will...quantified by flow cytometry. In the aortic ring assay, freshly isolated thoracic aorta rings will be harvested and mounted in a small-vessel myograph. KO

Flow cytometry of sputum: assessing inflammation and immune response elements in the bronchial airways**

EPA Science Inventory

Rationale: The evaluation of sputum leukocytes by flow cytometry is an opportunity to assess characteristics of cells residing in the central airways, yet it is hampered by certain inherent properties of sputum including mucus and large amounts of contaminating cells and debris. ...

Ferroptosis and Cell Death Analysis by Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Chen, Daishi; Eyupoglu, Ilker Y; Savaskan, Nicolai

2017-01-01

Cell death and its recently discovered regulated form ferroptosis are characterized by distinct morphological, electrophysiological, and pharmacological features. In particular ferroptosis can be induced by experimental compounds and clinical drugs (i.e., erastin, sulfasalazine, sorafenib, and artesunate) in various cell types and cancer cells. Pharmacologically, this cell death process can be inhibited by iron chelators and lipid peroxidation inhibitors. Relevance of this specific cell death form has been found in different pathological conditions such as cancer, neurotoxicity, neurodegeneration, and ischemia. Distinguishing cell viability and cell death is essential for experimental and clinical applications and a key component in flow cytometry experiments. Dead cells can compromise the integrity of the data by nonspecific binding of antibodies and dyes. Therefore it is essential that dead cells are robustly and reproducibly identified and characterized by means of cytometry application. Here we describe a procedure to detect and quantify cell death and its specific form ferroptosis based on standard flow cytometry techniques.

Flow cytometry as a tool for analyzing changes in Plasmodium falciparum cell cycle following treatment with indol compounds.

PubMed

Schuck, Desirée Cigaran; Ribeiro, Ramira Yuri; Nery, Arthur A; Ulrich, Henning; Garcia, Célia R S

2011-11-01

Melatonin and its derivatives modulate the Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium chabaudi cell cycle. Flow cytometry was employed together with the nucleic acid dye YOYO-1 allowing precise discrimination between mono- and multinucleated forms of P. falciparum-infected red blood cell. The use of YOYO-1 permitted excellent discrimination between uninfected and infected red blood cells as well as between early and late parasite stages. Fluorescence intensities of schizont-stage parasites were about 10-fold greater than those of ring-trophozoite form parasites. Melatonin and related indolic compounds including serotonin, N-acetyl-serotonin and tryptamine induced an increase in the percentage of multinucleated forms compared to non-treated control cultures. YOYO-1 staining of infected erythrocyte and subsequent flow cytometry analysis provides a powerful tool in malaria research for screening of bioactive compounds. Copyright © 2011 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Semi-quantitative estimation of cellular SiO2 nanoparticles using flow cytometry combined with X-ray fluorescence measurements.

PubMed

Choi, Seo Yeon; Yang, Nuri; Jeon, Soo Kyung; Yoon, Tae Hyun

2014-09-01

In this study, we have demonstrated feasibility of a semi-quantitative approach for the estimation of cellular SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs), which is based on the flow cytometry measurements of their normalized side scattering intensity. In order to improve our understanding on the quantitative aspects of cell-nanoparticle interactions, flow cytometry, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence experiments were carefully performed for the HeLa cells exposed to SiO2 NPs with different core diameters, hydrodynamic sizes, and surface charges. Based on the observed relationships among the experimental data, a semi-quantitative cellular SiO2 NPs estimation method from their normalized side scattering and core diameters was proposed, which can be applied for the determination of cellular SiO2 NPs within their size-dependent linear ranges. © 2014 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Polystyrene microspheres enable 10‐color compensation for immunophenotyping of primary human leukocytes

PubMed Central

Carr, Karen D.; Norman, John C.; Huye, Leslie; Hegde, Meenakshi

2015-01-01

Abstract Compensation is a critical process for the unbiased analysis of flow cytometry data. Numerous compensation strategies exist, including the use of bead‐based products. The purpose of this study was to determine whether beads, specifically polystyrene microspheres (PSMS) compare to the use of primary leukocytes for single color based compensation when conducting polychromatic flow cytometry. To do so, we stained individual tubes of both PSMS and leukocytes with panel specific antibodies conjugated to fluorochromes corresponding to fluorescent channels FL1‐FL10. We compared the matrix generated by PSMS to that generated using peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Ideal for compensation is a sample with both a discrete negative population and a bright positive population. We demonstrate that PSMS display autofluorescence properties similar to PBMC. When comparing PSMS to PBMC for compensation PSMS yielded more evenly distributed and discrete negative and positive populations to use for compensation. We analyzed three donors' PBMC stained with our 10‐color T cell subpopulation panel using compensation generated by PSMS vs.PBMC and detected no significant differences in the population distribution. Panel specific antibodies bound to PSMS represent an invaluable valid tool to generate suitable compensation matrices especially when sample material is limited and/or the sample requires analysis of dynamically modulated or rare events. © 2015 The Authors. Cytometry Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. PMID:26202733

Determination of allergenic load and pollen count of Cupressus arizonica pollen by flow cytometry using Cup a1 polyclonal antibody.

PubMed

Benítez, Francisco Moreno; Camacho, Antonio Letrán; Del Cuvillo Bernal, Alfonso; de Medina, Pedro Lobatón Sánchez; Cózar, Francisco J García; Romeu, Ma Luisa Espinazo

2013-07-10

Background: There is an increase in the incidence of pollen related allergy, thus information on pollen schedules would be a great asset for physicians to improve the clinical care of patients. Like cypress pollen sensitization shows a high prevalence among the causes of allergic rhinitis, and therefore it is of interest to use it like a model of study, distinguishing cypress pollen, pollen count and allergenic load level. In this work, we use a flow cytometry based technique to obtain both Cupressus arizonica pollen count and allergenic load, using specific rabbit polyclonal antibody Cup a1 and its comparison with optical microscopy technique measurement. Methods: Airborne samples were collected from Burkard Spore-Trap and Burkard Cyclone Cupressus arizonica pollen was studied using specific rabbit polyclonal antibody Cup a1, labelled with AlexaFluor ® 488 or 750 and analysed by Flow Cytometry in both an EPICS XL and Cyan ADP cytometers (Beckman Coulter ® ). Optical microscopy study was realized with a Leica optical microscope. Bland & Altman was used to determine agreement between both techniques measured. Results: We can identify three different populations based on rabbit polyclonal antibody Cup a1 staining. The main region (44.5%) had 97.3% recognition, a second region (25%) with 28% and a third region (30.5%) with 68% respectively. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy showed that main region corresponds to whole pollen grains, the second region are pollen without exine and the third region is constituted by smaller particles with allergenic properties. Pollen schedule shows a higher correlation measured by optical microscopy and flow cytometry in the pollen count with a p-value: 0.0008E -2 and 0.0002 with regard to smaller particles, so the Bland & Altman measurement showed a good correlation between them, p-value: 0,0003. Conclusion: Determination of pollen count and allergenic load by flow cytometry represents an important tool in the determination of airborne respiratory allergens. We showed that not only whole pollen but also smaller particles could induce allergic sensitization. This is the first study where flow cytometry is used for calculating pollen counts and allergenic load. © 2013 Clinical Cytometry Society. Copyright © 2013 Clinical Cytometry Society.

Guide to red fluorescent proteins and biosensors for flow cytometry.

PubMed

Piatkevich, Kiryl D; Verkhusha, Vladislav V

2011-01-01

Since the discovery of the first red fluorescent protein (RFP), named DsRed, 12 years ago, a wide pallet of red-shifted fluorescent proteins has been cloned and biotechnologically developed into monomeric fluorescent probes for optical microscopy. Several new types of monomeric RFPs that change the emission wavelength either with time, called fluorescent timers, or after a brief irradiation with violet light, known as photoactivatable proteins, have been also engineered. Moreover, RFPs with a large Stokes shift of fluorescence emission have been recently designed. Because of their distinctive excitation and fluorescence detection conditions developed specifically for microscopy, these fluorescent probes can be suboptimal for flow cytometry. Here, we have selected and summarized the advanced orange, red, and far-red fluorescent proteins with the properties specifically required for the flow cytometry applications. Their effective brightness was calculated for the laser sources available for the commercial flow cytometers and sorters. Compatibility of the fluorescent proteins of different colors in a multiparameter flow cytometry was determined. Novel FRET pairs, utilizing RFPs, RFP-based intracellular biosensors, and their application to a high-throughput screening, are also discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structure of the Global Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Literature

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

Transistors, Nature, 424 (6949): 654-657, 2003. Joannopoulos, JD, Meade, RD, Winn, JN, Photonic Crystals: Molding the Flow of Light, Princeton...1.27 Force Microscopy 40 0.10 0.00 Electron Spectroscopy 40 0.10 0.00 Rutherford backscattering spectrometry 38 0.10 0.00 flow cytometry 36 0.09...Backscattering Spectroscopy/Spectrometry • Flow Cytometry • Spectrophotometry (UV-Visible) • Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy • Inductively

Mobile flow cytometer for mHealth.

PubMed

Balsam, Joshua; Bruck, Hugh Alan; Rasooly, Avraham

2015-01-01

Flow cytometry is used for cell counting and analysis in numerous clinical and environmental applications. However flow cytometry is not used in mHealth mainly because current flow cytometers are large, expensive, power-intensive devices designed to operate in a laboratory. Their design results in a lack of portability and makes them unsuitable for mHealth applications. Another limitation of current technology is the low volumetric throughput rates that are not suitable for rapid detection of rare cells.To address these limitations, we describe here a novel, low-cost, mobile flow cytometer based on wide-field imaging with a webcam for large volume and high throughput fluorescence detection of rare cells as a simulation for circulating tumor cells (CTCs) detection. The mobile flow cytometer uses a commercially available webcam capable of 187 frames per second video capture at a resolution of 320 × 240 pixels. For fluorescence detection, a 1 W 450 nm blue laser is used for excitation of Syto-9 fluorescently stained cells detected at 535 nm. A wide-field flow cell was developed for large volume analysis that allows for the linear velocity of target cells to be lower than in conventional hydrodynamic focusing flow cells typically used in cytometry. The mobile flow cytometer was found to be capable of detecting low concentrations at flow rates of 500 μL/min, suitable for rare cell detection in large volumes. The simplicity and low cost of this device suggests that it may have a potential clinical use for mHealth flow cytometry for resource-poor settings associated with global health.

Annual Progress Report FY-91. Volume 1 and 2.

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-03-12

Pulmonary Med Tech 11 0644 GS Berger, TA Allergy Microbiologist 12 0403 GS Billups, L Flow Cytom Chemist 12 1320 GS Vacant Pulmonary Kyle Metabolic Unit...Reactions 11 (11/89) 3349 Salata, Kalman PhD. Mitogen-Inducible T Suppressor Cell 12 Assay by Flow Cytometry (12/89) 3350 Salata, Kalman PhD. Flow ...3/90) 3354 Salata, Kalman PhD. Two Way Mixed Lymphocyte Culture: 17 Analysis by Two Color Flow Cytometry (4/90) 3355 Salata, Kalman PhD. Effect of

CytometryML and other data formats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.

2006-02-01

Cytology automation and research will be enhanced by the creation of a common data format. This data format would provide the pathology and research communities with a uniform way for annotating and exchanging images, flow cytometry, and associated data. This specification and/or standard will include descriptions of the acquisition device, staining, the binary representations of the image and list-mode data, the measurements derived from the image and/or the list-mode data, and descriptors for clinical/pathology and research. An international, vendor-supported, non-proprietary specification will allow pathologists, researchers, and companies to develop and use image capture/analysis software, as well as list-mode analysis software, without worrying about incompatibilities between proprietary vendor formats. Presently, efforts to create specifications and/or descriptions of these formats include the Laboratory Digital Imaging Project (LDIP) Data Exchange Specification; extensions to the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM); Open Microscopy Environment (OME); Flowcyt, an extension to the present Flow Cytometry Standard (FCS); and CytometryML. The feasibility of creating a common data specification for digital microscopy and flow cytometry in a manner consistent with its use for medical devices and interoperability with both hospital information and picture archiving systems has been demonstrated by the creation of the CytometryML schemas. The feasibility of creating a software system for digital microscopy has been demonstrated by the OME. CytometryML consists of schemas that describe instruments and their measurements. These instruments include digital microscopes and flow cytometers. Optical components including the instruments' excitation and emission parts are described. The description of the measurements made by these instruments includes the tagged molecule, data acquisition subsystem, and the format of the list-mode and/or image data. Many of the CytometryML data-types are based on the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM). Binary files for images and list-mode data have been created and read.

Routine detection of Epstein-Barr virus specific T-cells in the peripheral blood by flow cytometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Crucian, B. E.; Stowe, R. P.; Pierson, D. L.; Sams, C. F.

2001-01-01

The ability to detect cytomegalovirus-specific T-cells (CD4(+)) in the peripheral blood by flow cytometry has been recently described by Picker et al. In this method, cells are incubated with viral antigen and responding (cytokine producing) T-cells are then identified by flow cytometry. To date, this technique has not been reliably used to detect Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific T-cells primarily due to the superantigen/mitogenic properties of the virus which non-specifically activate T-cells. By modifying culture conditions under which the antigens are presented, we have overcome this limitation and developed an assay to detect and quantitate EBV-specific T-cells. The detection of cytokine producing T-cells by flow cytometry requires an extremely strong signal (such as culture in the presence of PMA and ionomycin). Our data indicate that in modified culture conditions (early removal of viral antigen) the non-specific activation of T-cells by EBV is reduced, but antigen presentation will continue uninhibited. Using this method, EBV-specific T-cells may be legitimately detected using flow cytometry. No reduction in the numbers of antigen-specific T-cells was observed by the early removal of target antigen when verified using cytomegalovirus antigen (a virus with no non-specific T-cell activation properties). In EBV-seropositive individuals, the phenotype of the EBV-specific cytokine producing T-cells was evaluated using four-color flow cytometry and found to be CD45(+), CD3(+), CD4(+), CD45RA(-), CD69(+), CD25(-). This phenotype indicates the stimulation of circulating previously unactivated memory T-cells. No cytokine production was observed in CD4(+) T-cells from EBV-seronegative individuals, confirming the specificity of this assay. In addition, the use of four color cytometry (CD45, CD3, CD69, IFNgamma/IL-2) allows the total quantitative assessment of EBV-specific T-cells while monitoring the interference of EBV non-specific mitogenic activity. This method may have significant utility for the monitoring of the immune response to latent virus infection/reactivation.

Determination of allergenic load and pollen count of Cupressus arizonica pollen by flow cytometry using Cup a1 polyclonal antibody.

PubMed

Benítez, Francisco Moreno; Camacho, Antonio Letrán; del Cuvillo Bernal, Alfonso; de Medina, Pedro Lobatón Sánchez; García Cózar, Francisco J; Romeu, Marisa Espinazo

2014-01-01

There is an increase in the incidence of pollen related allergy, thus information on pollen schedules would be a great asset for physicians to improve the clinical care of patients. Like cypress pollen sensitization shows a high prevalence among the causes of allergic rhinitis, and therefore it is of interest to use it like a model of study, distinguishing cypress pollen, pollen count, and allergenic load level. In this work, we use a flow cytometry based technique to obtain both Cupressus arizonica pollen count and allergenic load, using specific rabbit polyclonal antibody Cup a1 and its comparison with optical microscopy technique measurement. Airborne samples were collected from Burkard Spore-Trap and Burkard Cyclone Cupressus arizonica pollen was studied using specific rabbit polyclonal antibody Cup a1, labeled with AlexaFluor(®) 488 or 750 and analysed by Flow Cytometry in both an EPICS XL and Cyan ADP cytometers (Beckman Coulter(®) ). Optical microscopy study was realized with a Leica optical microscope. Bland and Altman was used to determine agreement between both techniques measured. We can identify three different populations based on rabbit polyclonal antibody Cup a1 staining. The main region (44.5%) had 97.3% recognition, a second region (25%) with 28% and a third region (30.5%) with 68% respectively. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy showed that main region corresponds to whole pollen grains, the second region are pollen without exine and the third region is constituted by smaller particles with allergenic properties. Pollen schedule shows a higher correlation measured by optical microscopy and flow cytometry in the pollen count with a P-value: 0.0008 E(-2) and 0.0002 with regard to smaller particles, so the Bland and Altman measurement showed a good correlation between them, P-value: 0.0003. Determination of pollen count and allergenic load by flow cytometry represents an important tool in the determination of airborne respiratory allergens. We showed that not only whole pollen but also smaller particles could induce allergic sensitization. This is the first study where flow cytometry is used for calculating pollen counts and allergenic load. Copyright © 2013 Clinical Cytometry Society.

78 FR 5186 - Clinical Flow Cytometry in Hematologic Malignancies; Public Workshop; Request for Comments

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-01-24

... in the diagnosis of leukemia and lymphoma and more recently in the detection of minimal residual... chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); (3) Third-party flow cytometry data analysis software; and (4... held February 27, 2013 (77 FR 76051, December 26, 2012). An FDA workshop for acute lymphocytic leukemia...

[Fiat Lux. May be no more true in cytometry! Go to mass and spectrum but still stay classic].

PubMed

Idziorek, Thierry; Cazareth, Julie; Blanc, Catherine; Jouy, Nathalie; Bourdely, Pierre; Corneau, Aurélien

2018-05-01

The last decade has been an era of accelerated technological progress for flow cytometry. New technologies have been developed such as mass cytometry in which standard fluorochromes have been replaced by lanthanide-based non-radioactive metals and by spectral cytometry that measures the complete fluorescence spectrum. In this review, we schematically describe conventional, mass and spectral cytometry and present the plus and minus of each technology. © 2018 médecine/sciences – Inserm.

[Clinical usefulness of urine-formed elements' information obtained from bacteria detection by flow cytometry method that uses nucleic acid staining].

PubMed

Nakagawa, Hiroko; Yuno, Tomoji; Itho, Kiichi

2009-03-01

Recently, specific detection method for Bacteria, by flow cytometry method using nucleic acid staining, was developed as a function of automated urine formed elements analyzer for routine urine testing. Here, we performed a basic study on this bacteria analysis method. In addition, we also have a comparison among urine sediment analysis, urine Gram staining and urine quantitative cultivation, the conventional methods performed up to now. As a result, the bacteria analysis with flow cytometry method that uses nucleic acid staining was excellent in reproducibility, and higher sensitivity compared with microscopic urinary sediment analysis. Based on the ROC curve analysis, which settled urine culture method as standard, cut-off level of 120/microL was defined and its sensitivity = 85.7%, specificity = 88.2%. In the analysis of scattergram, accompanied with urine culture method, among 90% of rod positive samples, 80% of dots were appeared in the area of 30 degrees from axis X. In addition, one case even indicated that analysis of bacteria by flow cytometry and scattergram of time series analysis might be helpful to trace the progress of causative bacteria therefore the information supposed to be clinically significant. Reporting bacteria information with nucleic acid staining flow cytometry method is expected to contribute to a rapid diagnostics and treatment of urinary tract infections. Besides, the contribution to screening examination of microbiology and clinical chemistry, will deliver a more efficient solution to urine analysis.

Flow Cytometry: Evolution of Microbiological Methods for Probiotics Enumeration.

PubMed

Pane, Marco; Allesina, Serena; Amoruso, Angela; Nicola, Stefania; Deidda, Francesca; Mogna, Luca

2018-05-14

The purpose of this trial was to verify that the analytical method ISO 19344:2015 (E)-IDF 232:2015 (E) is valid and reliable for quantifying the concentration of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (ATCC 53103) in a finished product formulation. Flow cytometry assay is emerging as an alternative rapid method for microbial detection, enumeration, and population profiling. The use of flow cytometry not only permits the determination of viable cell counts but also allows for enumeration of damaged and dead cell subpopulations. Results are expressed as TFU (Total Fluorescent Units) and AFU (Active Fluorescent Units). In December 2015, the International Standard ISO 19344-IDF 232 "Milk and milk products-Starter cultures, probiotics and fermented products-Quantification of lactic acid bacteria by flow cytometry" was published. This particular ISO can be applied universally and regardless of the species of interest. Analytical method validation was conducted on 3 different industrial batches of L. rhamnosus GG according to USP39<1225>/ICH Q2R1 in term of: accuracy, precision (repeatability), intermediate precision (ruggedness), specificity, limit of quantification, linearity, range, robustness. The data obtained on the 3 batches of finished product have significantly demonstrated the validity and robustness of the cytofluorimetric analysis. On the basis of the results obtained, the ISO 19344:2015 (E)-IDF 232:2015 (E) "Quantification of lactic acid bacteria by flow cytometry" can be used for the enumeration of L. rhamnosus GG in a finished product formulation.

Data File Standard for Flow Cytometry, version FCS 3.1.

PubMed

Spidlen, Josef; Moore, Wayne; Parks, David; Goldberg, Michael; Bray, Chris; Bierre, Pierre; Gorombey, Peter; Hyun, Bill; Hubbard, Mark; Lange, Simon; Lefebvre, Ray; Leif, Robert; Novo, David; Ostruszka, Leo; Treister, Adam; Wood, James; Murphy, Robert F; Roederer, Mario; Sudar, Damir; Zigon, Robert; Brinkman, Ryan R

2010-01-01

The flow cytometry data file standard provides the specifications needed to completely describe flow cytometry data sets within the confines of the file containing the experimental data. In 1984, the first Flow Cytometry Standard format for data files was adopted as FCS 1.0. This standard was modified in 1990 as FCS 2.0 and again in 1997 as FCS 3.0. We report here on the next generation flow cytometry standard data file format. FCS 3.1 is a minor revision based on suggested improvements from the community. The unchanged goal of the standard is to provide a uniform file format that allows files created by one type of acquisition hardware and software to be analyzed by any other type.The FCS 3.1 standard retains the basic FCS file structure and most features of previous versions of the standard. Changes included in FCS 3.1 address potential ambiguities in the previous versions and provide a more robust standard. The major changes include simplified support for international characters and improved support for storing compensation. The major additions are support for preferred display scale, a standardized way of capturing the sample volume, information about originality of the data file, and support for plate and well identification in high throughput, plate based experiments. Please see the normative version of the FCS 3.1 specification in Supporting Information for this manuscript (or at http://www.isac-net.org/ in the Current standards section) for a complete list of changes.

Data File Standard for Flow Cytometry, Version FCS 3.1

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Spidlen, Josef; Moore, Wayne; Parks, David

2009-11-10

The flow cytometry data file standard provides the specifications needed to completely describe flow cytometry data sets within the confines of the file containing the experimental data. In 1984, the first Flow Cytometry Standard format for data files was adopted as FCS 1.0. This standard was modified in 1990 as FCS 2.0 and again in 1997 as FCS 3.0. We report here on the next generation flow cytometry standard data file format. FCS 3.1 is a minor revision based on suggested improvements from the community. The unchanged goal of the standard is to provide a uniform file format that allowsmore » files created by one type of acquisition hardware and software to be analyzed by any other type. The FCS 3.1 standard retains the basic FCS file structure and most features of previous versions of the standard. Changes included in FCS 3.1 address potential ambiguities in the previous versions and provide a more robust standard. The major changes include simplified support for international characters and improved support for storing compensation. The major additions are support for preferred display scale, a standardized way of capturing the sample volume, information about originality of the data file, and support for plate and well identification in high throughput, plate based experiments. Please see the normative version of the FCS 3.1 specification in Supporting Information for this manuscript (or at http://www.isac-net.org/ in the Current standards section) for a complete list of changes.« less

Rapid assessment of viable but non-culturable Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 in commercial formulations using Flow cytometry.

PubMed

Majeed, Muhammed; Majeed, Shaheen; Nagabhushanam, Kalyanam; Punnapuzha, Ardra; Philip, Sheena; Mundkur, Lakshmi

2018-01-01

Accurate enumeration of bacterial count in probiotic formulation is imperative to ensure that the product adheres to regulatory standards and citation in consumer product label. Standard methods like plate count, can enumerate only replicating bacterial population under selected culture conditions. Viable but non culturable bacteria (VBNC) retain characteristics of living cells and can regain cultivability by a process known as resuscitation. This is a protective mechanism adapted by bacteria to evade stressful environmental conditions. B. coagulans MTCC 5856(LactoSpore®) is a probiotic endospore which can survive for decades in hostile environments without dividing. In the present study, we explored the use of flow cytometry to enumerate the viable count of B. coagulans MTCC 5856 under acidic and alkaline conditions, high temperature and in commercial formulations like compressed tablets and capsules. Flow cytometry (FCM) was comparable to plate count method when the spores were counted at physiological conditions. We show that VBNC state is induced in B. coagulans MTCC 5856by high temperature and acidic pH. The cells get resuscitated under physiological conditions and FCM was sensitive to detect the VBNC spores. Flow cytometry showed excellent ability to assess the viable spore count in commercial probiotic formulations of B. coagulans MTCC 5856. The results establish Flow cytometry as a reliable method to count viable bacteria in commercial probiotic preparations. Sporulation as well as existence as VBNC could contribute to the extreme stability of B. coagulans MTCC 5856.

Rapid assessment of viable but non-culturable Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 in commercial formulations using Flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Majeed, Muhammed; Majeed, Shaheen; Nagabhushanam, Kalyanam; Punnapuzha, Ardra; Philip, Sheena

2018-01-01

Accurate enumeration of bacterial count in probiotic formulation is imperative to ensure that the product adheres to regulatory standards and citation in consumer product label. Standard methods like plate count, can enumerate only replicating bacterial population under selected culture conditions. Viable but non culturable bacteria (VBNC) retain characteristics of living cells and can regain cultivability by a process known as resuscitation. This is a protective mechanism adapted by bacteria to evade stressful environmental conditions. B. coagulans MTCC 5856(LactoSpore®) is a probiotic endospore which can survive for decades in hostile environments without dividing. In the present study, we explored the use of flow cytometry to enumerate the viable count of B. coagulans MTCC 5856 under acidic and alkaline conditions, high temperature and in commercial formulations like compressed tablets and capsules. Flow cytometry (FCM) was comparable to plate count method when the spores were counted at physiological conditions. We show that VBNC state is induced in B. coagulans MTCC 5856by high temperature and acidic pH. The cells get resuscitated under physiological conditions and FCM was sensitive to detect the VBNC spores. Flow cytometry showed excellent ability to assess the viable spore count in commercial probiotic formulations of B. coagulans MTCC 5856. The results establish Flow cytometry as a reliable method to count viable bacteria in commercial probiotic preparations. Sporulation as well as existence as VBNC could contribute to the extreme stability of B. coagulans MTCC 5856. PMID:29474436

Impact of Two Measures of Micrometastatic Disease on Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Ewing Sarcoma: A Report from the Children’s Oncology Group

PubMed Central

Vo, Kieuhoa T.; Edwards, Jeremy V.; Epling, C. Lorrie; Sinclair, Elizabeth; Hawkins, Douglas S.; Grier, Holcombe E.; Janeway, Katherine A.; Barnette, Phillip; McIlvaine, Elizabeth; Krailo, Mark D.; Barkauskas, Donald A.; Matthay, Katherine K.; Womer, Richard B.; Gorlick, Richard G.; Lessnick, Stephen L.; Mackall, Crystal L.; DuBois, Steven G.

2016-01-01

Purpose Flow cytometry and RT-PCR can detect occult Ewing sarcoma (ES) cells in the blood and bone marrow (BM). These techniques were used to evaluate the prognostic significance of micrometastatic disease in ES. Experimental Design Newly diagnosed patients with ES were enrolled on two prospective multi-center studies. In the flow cytometry cohort, patients were defined as “positive” for BM micrometastatic disease if their CD99+/CD45− values were above the upper limit in 22 control patients. In the PCR cohort, RT-PCR on blood or BM samples classified the patients as “positive” or “negative” for EWSR1/FLI1 translocations. The association between micrometastatic disease burden with clinical features and outcome was assessed. Co-expression of IGF-1R on detected tumor cells was performed in a subset of flow cytometry samples. Results The median total BM CD99+CD45− percent was 0.0012% (range 0–1.10%) in the flow cytometry cohort, with 14/109 (12.8%) of ES patients defined as “positive.” In the PCR cohort, 19.6% (44/225) patients were “positive” for any EWSR1/FLI1 translocation in blood or BM. There were no differences in baseline clinical features or event-free or overall survival between patients classified as “positive” vs. “negative” by either method. CD99+CD45− cells had significantly higher IGF-1R expression compared to CD45+ hematopoietic cells (mean geometric mean fluorescence intensity 982.7 vs. 190.9; p<0.001). Conclusion The detection of micrometastatic disease at initial diagnosis by flow cytometry or RT-PCR is not associated with outcome in newly diagnosed patients with ES. Flow cytometry provides a tool to characterize occult micrometastatic tumor cells for proteins of interest. PMID:26861456

Masks in Imaging Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Dominical, Venina; Samsel, Leigh; McCoy, J. Philip

2016-01-01

Data analysis in imaging flow cytometry incorporates elements of flow cytometry together with other aspects of morphological analysis of images. A crucial early step in this analysis is the creation of a mask to distinguish the portion of the image upon which further examination of specified features can be performed. Default masks are provided by the manufacturer of the imaging flow cytometer but additional custom masks can be created by the individual user for specific applications. Flawed or inaccurate masks can have a substantial negative impact on the overall analysis of a sample, thus great care must be taken to ensure the accuracy of masks. Here we discuss various types of masks and cite examples of their use. Furthermore we provide our insight for how to approach selecting and assessing the optimal mask for a specific analysis. PMID:27461256

Heterogeneous distribution of antigens on human platelets demonstrated by fluorescence flow cytometry.

PubMed

Dunstan, R A; Simpson, M B

1985-12-01

We have used fluorescence flow cytometry to analyse cell-to-cell variability in the density of platelet ABH, Ii, Lewis, P, P1A1, Bak,a and HLA class I antigens. Human IgG and IgM antibodies were used in a two-stage assay with goat FITC-conjugated antihuman IgG (H&L) antibody as the label, followed by single cell analysis of 10 000 platelets per sample using a 256-channel fluorescence flow cytometer (Becton-Dickinson FACS Analyser). Computer analysis of fluorescence intensity histograms for mean and peak channel and coefficient of variation shows that the degree of heterogeneity in platelet antigen density varies with each particular blood group. The broad fluorescence distribution curves with oligosaccharide antigens (CVs: A = 53, B = 40, I = 44, Lea = 40, P = 40) indicate that these antigens possess a greater variability in the number of sites per cell compared to the more homogeneous distribution of P1,A1 BaK,a and HLA (CVs: P1A1 = 24, HLA = 30). These findings may partly account for the mechanism by which transfusion of ABO-incompatible platelets results in a biphasic survival curve, with a period of early rapid removal of those platelets with a high density of antigen sites, followed by a relatively normal survival curve for those platelets that possess only a few or no antigen sites. In contrast, P1A1 and HLA sites are less variable in number from one platelet to another in a given donor, and immune-mediated removal would be more likely to approximate a single exponential curve.

Clinical Investigation Program. Annual Progress Report. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-01-20

Suport Labs Resch Chemist 13 0644 GS Salata, KF Allergy Microbiologist 12 0403 CS Billups, L Flow Cytom Microbiologist 12 0403 GS Dobek, AS Inf Disease 5...continued to increase laboratory research support to principal investigators throughout the medical center. The DCI Flow Cytometry Laboratory provided...Kalman PhD. Mitogen-Inducible T Suppressor Cell 12 Assay by Flow Cytometry (12/89) * Reference is to page number(s) in Volume II. 30 PROTOCOL NUMBER

Streamlined method for parallel identification of single domain antibodies to membrane receptors on whole cells

PubMed Central

Rossotti, Martín; Tabares, Sofía; Alfaya, Lucía; Leizagoyen, Carmen; Moron, Gabriel; González-Sapienza, Gualberto

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND Owing to their minimal size, high production yield, versatility and robustness, the recombinant variable domain (nanobody) of camelid single chain antibodies are valued affinity reagents for research, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. While their preparation against purified antigens is straightforward, the generation of nanobodies to difficult targets such as multi-pass or complex membrane cell receptors remains challenging. Here we devised a platform for high throughput identification of nanobodies to cell receptor based on the use of a biotin handle. METHODS Using a biotin-acceptor peptide tag, the in vivo biotinylation of nanobodies in 96 well culture blocks was optimized allowing their parallel analysis by flow cytometry and ELISA, and their direct used for pull-down/MS target identification. RESULTS The potential of this strategy was demonstrated by the selection and characterization of panels of nanobodies to Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18), MHC II and the mouse Ly-5 leukocyte common antigen (CD45) receptors, from a VHH library obtained from a llama immunized with mouse bone marrow derived dendritic cells. By on and off switching of the addition of biotin, the method also allowed the epitope binning of the selected Nbs directly on cells. CONCLUSIONS This strategy streamline the selection of potent nanobodies to complex antigens, and the selected nanobodies constitute ready-to-use biotinylated reagents. GENERAL SIGNIFICANCE This method will accelerate the discovery of nanobodies to cell membrane receptors which comprise the largest group of drug and analytical targets. PMID:25819371

The extended leukocyte differential count using the Cytodiff flow cytometric system reveals that higher CD16+ cytotoxic NK+T lymphocyte levels predict superior survival outcomes in patients with metastatic carcinoma.

PubMed

Park, Borae G; Park, Chan-Jeoung; Yoon, Chan-Hee; Jang, Seongsoo; Chi, Hyun-Sook; Ryu, Min-Hee; Kim, Sang-We

2013-05-01

The recently developed Cytodiff flow cytometric system (Beckman Coulter, Miami, FL) enables leukocyte analysis using a single immunophenotyping panel tube composed of six markers and five colors and that can detect 16 leukocyte subpopulations. We performed a preliminary investigation of whether changes in any of 16 leukocyte differentials were associated with survival and treatment outcomes in patients with metastatic carcinoma or not. We measured 16 leukocyte differential counts using the Cytodiff flow cytometric system in peripheral blood samples from 40 patients with metastatic malignancy (27 stomach cancer and 13 lung cancer) before chemotherapy and at 15 day intervals after chemotherapy for 2 months. A higher percentage of CD16+ cytotoxic NK+T lymphocytes was found to be the only significant prognostic factor among by Cox regression analysis and a higher percentage of CD16+ cytotoxic NK+T lymphocytes (>5.0%) showed significantly longer survival outcomes by Kaplan-Meier analysis (P = 0.003). The Cytodiff system enables 16 leukocyte subpopulations in a one tube assay and also can operate with only small amounts of sample, although it cannot differentiate NK cells from T lymphocytes. Hence, the monitoring of all leukocyte subpopulations using Cytodiff flow cytometry may be a helpful prognostic tool for patients with metastatic carcinoma. Copyright © 2012 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Flow cytometric analysis of normal and neoplastic mast cells: role in diagnosis and follow-up of mast cell disease.

PubMed

Escribano, Luis; Garcia Montero, Andres C; Núñez, Rosa; Orfao, Alberto

2006-08-01

Human mast cells (MCs) are directly derived from human pluripotent CD34+ stem and progenitor hematopoietic cells with stem cell factor being a critical growth factor supporting human MC proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Because of the advantages that flow cytometry offers (it allows rapid, objective, and sensitive multiparameter analysis of high numbers of cells from a sample, with information being provided on the basis of a single cell), it has become the method of choice in the past decade for immunophenotypic identification, enumeration, and characterization of human MCs in bone marrow and other tissue specimens.

Flow analysis of human chromosome sets by means of mixing-stirring device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zenin, Valeri V.; Aksenov, Nicolay D.; Shatrova, Alla N.; Klopov, Nicolay V.; Cram, L. Scott; Poletaev, Andrey I.

1997-05-01

A new mixing and stirring device (MSD) was used to perform flow karyotype analysis of single human mitotic chromosomes analyzed so as to maintain the identity of chromosomes derived from the same cell. An improved method for cell preparation and intracellular staining of chromosomes was developed. The method includes enzyme treatment, incubation with saponin and separation of prestained cells from debris on a sucrose gradient. Mitotic cells are injected one by one in the MSD which is located inside the flow chamber where cells are ruptured, thereby releasing chromosomes. The set of chromosomes proceeds to flow in single file fashion to the point of analysis. The device works in a stepwise manner. The concentration of cells in the sample must be kept low to ensure that only one cell at a time enters the breaking chamber. Time-gated accumulation of data in listmode files makes it possible to separate chromosome sets comprising of single cells. The software that was developed classifies chromosome sets according to different criteria: total number of chromosomes, overall DNA content in the set, and the number of chromosomes of certain types. This approach combines the high performance of flow cytometry with the advantages of image analysis. Examples obtained with different human cell lines are presented.

Waveguide detection of right-angle-scattered light in flow cytometry

DOEpatents

Mariella, Jr., Raymond P.

2000-01-01

A transparent flow cell is used as an index-guided optical waveguide. A detector for the flow cell but not the liquid stream detects the Right-Angle-Scattered (RAS) Light exiting from one end of the flow cell. The detector(s) could view the trapped RAS light from the flow cell either directly or through intermediate optical light guides. If the light exits one end of the flow cell, then the other end of the flow cell can be given a high-reflectivity coating to approximately double the amount of light collected. This system is more robust in its alignment than the traditional flow cytometry systems which use imaging optics, such as microscope objectives.

Immunological Tools: Engaging Students in the Use and Analysis of Flow Cytometry and Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ott, Laura E.; Carson, Susan

2014-01-01

Flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are commonly used techniques associated with clinical and research applications within the immunology and medical fields. The use of these techniques is becoming increasingly valuable in many life science and engineering disciplines as well. Herein, we report the development and…

Differences in leukocyte differentiation molecule abundances on domestic sheep (Ovis aries) and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) neutrophils identified by flow cytometry

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Although both domestic sheep (DS) and bighorn sheep (BHS) are affected by similar respiratory bacterial pathogens, experimental and field data indicate BHS are more susceptible to pneumonia. Cross-reactive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for use in flow cytometry (FC) are valuable reagents for interspe...

Utilization of flow cytometry to identify chimeral sectors in leaf tissue of Lolium multiflorum x L. arundinaceum hybrids

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

We have identified a method whereby Lolium multiflorum (Lm) or L. arundinaceum (Fa) genomes are preferentially eliminated through a mitotic loss behavior in interspecific Lm x Fa F1 hybrids, generating either dihaploid Lm lines or Fa lines. Flow cytometry, a method for rapidly characterizing optical...

Optimizing transformations for automated, high throughput analysis of flow cytometry data

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background In a high throughput setting, effective flow cytometry data analysis depends heavily on proper data preprocessing. While usual preprocessing steps of quality assessment, outlier removal, normalization, and gating have received considerable scrutiny from the community, the influence of data transformation on the output of high throughput analysis has been largely overlooked. Flow cytometry measurements can vary over several orders of magnitude, cell populations can have variances that depend on their mean fluorescence intensities, and may exhibit heavily-skewed distributions. Consequently, the choice of data transformation can influence the output of automated gating. An appropriate data transformation aids in data visualization and gating of cell populations across the range of data. Experience shows that the choice of transformation is data specific. Our goal here is to compare the performance of different transformations applied to flow cytometry data in the context of automated gating in a high throughput, fully automated setting. We examine the most common transformations used in flow cytometry, including the generalized hyperbolic arcsine, biexponential, linlog, and generalized Box-Cox, all within the BioConductor flowCore framework that is widely used in high throughput, automated flow cytometry data analysis. All of these transformations have adjustable parameters whose effects upon the data are non-intuitive for most users. By making some modelling assumptions about the transformed data, we develop maximum likelihood criteria to optimize parameter choice for these different transformations. Results We compare the performance of parameter-optimized and default-parameter (in flowCore) data transformations on real and simulated data by measuring the variation in the locations of cell populations across samples, discovered via automated gating in both the scatter and fluorescence channels. We find that parameter-optimized transformations improve visualization, reduce variability in the location of discovered cell populations across samples, and decrease the misclassification (mis-gating) of individual events when compared to default-parameter counterparts. Conclusions Our results indicate that the preferred transformation for fluorescence channels is a parameter- optimized biexponential or generalized Box-Cox, in accordance with current best practices. Interestingly, for populations in the scatter channels, we find that the optimized hyperbolic arcsine may be a better choice in a high-throughput setting than current standard practice of no transformation. However, generally speaking, the choice of transformation remains data-dependent. We have implemented our algorithm in the BioConductor package, flowTrans, which is publicly available. PMID:21050468

Optimizing transformations for automated, high throughput analysis of flow cytometry data.

PubMed

Finak, Greg; Perez, Juan-Manuel; Weng, Andrew; Gottardo, Raphael

2010-11-04

In a high throughput setting, effective flow cytometry data analysis depends heavily on proper data preprocessing. While usual preprocessing steps of quality assessment, outlier removal, normalization, and gating have received considerable scrutiny from the community, the influence of data transformation on the output of high throughput analysis has been largely overlooked. Flow cytometry measurements can vary over several orders of magnitude, cell populations can have variances that depend on their mean fluorescence intensities, and may exhibit heavily-skewed distributions. Consequently, the choice of data transformation can influence the output of automated gating. An appropriate data transformation aids in data visualization and gating of cell populations across the range of data. Experience shows that the choice of transformation is data specific. Our goal here is to compare the performance of different transformations applied to flow cytometry data in the context of automated gating in a high throughput, fully automated setting. We examine the most common transformations used in flow cytometry, including the generalized hyperbolic arcsine, biexponential, linlog, and generalized Box-Cox, all within the BioConductor flowCore framework that is widely used in high throughput, automated flow cytometry data analysis. All of these transformations have adjustable parameters whose effects upon the data are non-intuitive for most users. By making some modelling assumptions about the transformed data, we develop maximum likelihood criteria to optimize parameter choice for these different transformations. We compare the performance of parameter-optimized and default-parameter (in flowCore) data transformations on real and simulated data by measuring the variation in the locations of cell populations across samples, discovered via automated gating in both the scatter and fluorescence channels. We find that parameter-optimized transformations improve visualization, reduce variability in the location of discovered cell populations across samples, and decrease the misclassification (mis-gating) of individual events when compared to default-parameter counterparts. Our results indicate that the preferred transformation for fluorescence channels is a parameter- optimized biexponential or generalized Box-Cox, in accordance with current best practices. Interestingly, for populations in the scatter channels, we find that the optimized hyperbolic arcsine may be a better choice in a high-throughput setting than current standard practice of no transformation. However, generally speaking, the choice of transformation remains data-dependent. We have implemented our algorithm in the BioConductor package, flowTrans, which is publicly available.

Rise of the micromachines: microfluidics and the future of cytometry.

PubMed

Wlodkowic, Donald; Darzynkiewicz, Zbigniew

2011-01-01

The past decade has brought many innovations to the field of flow and image-based cytometry. These advancements can be seen in the current miniaturization trends and simplification of analytical components found in the conventional flow cytometers. On the other hand, the maturation of multispectral imaging cytometry in flow imaging and the slide-based laser scanning cytometers offers great hopes for improved data quality and throughput while proving new vistas for the multiparameter, real-time analysis of cells and tissues. Importantly, however, cytometry remains a viable and very dynamic field of modern engineering. Technological milestones and innovations made over the last couple of years are bringing the next generation of cytometers out of centralized core facilities while making it much more affordable and user friendly. In this context, the development of microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies is one of the most innovative and cost-effective approaches toward the advancement of cytometry. LOC devices promise new functionalities that can overcome current limitations while at the same time promise greatly reduced costs, increased sensitivity, and ultra high throughputs. We can expect that the current pace in the development of novel microfabricated cytometric systems will open up groundbreaking vistas for the field of cytometry, lead to the renaissance of cytometric techniques and most importantly greatly support the wider availability of these enabling bioanalytical technologies. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rise of the Micromachines: Microfluidics and the Future of Cytometry

PubMed Central

Wlodkowic, Donald; Darzynkiewicz, Zbigniew

2011-01-01

The past decade has brought many innovations to the field of flow and image-based cytometry. These advancements can be seen in the current miniaturization trends and simplification of analytical components found in the conventional flow cytometers. On the other hand, the maturation of multispectral imaging cytometry in flow imaging and the slide-based laser scanning cytometers offers great hopes for improved data quality and throughput while proving new vistas for the multiparameter, real-time analysis of cells and tissues. Importantly, however, cytometry remains a viable and very dynamic field of modern engineering. Technological milestones and innovations made over the last couple of years are bringing the next generation of cytometers out of centralized core facilities while making it much more affordable and user friendly. In this context, the development of microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies is one of the most innovative and cost-effective approaches toward the advancement of cytometry. LOC devices promise new functionalities that can overcome current limitations while at the same time promise greatly reduced costs, increased sensitivity, and ultra high throughputs. We can expect that the current pace in the development of novel microfabricated cytometric systems will open up groundbreaking vistas for the field of cytometry, lead to the renaissance of cytometric techniques and most importantly greatly support the wider availability of these enabling bioanalytical technologies. PMID:21704837

flowVS: channel-specific variance stabilization in flow cytometry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Azad, Ariful; Rajwa, Bartek; Pothen, Alex

Comparing phenotypes of heterogeneous cell populations from multiple biological conditions is at the heart of scientific discovery based on flow cytometry (FC). When the biological signal is measured by the average expression of a biomarker, standard statistical methods require that variance be approximately stabilized in populations to be compared. Since the mean and variance of a cell population are often correlated in fluorescence-based FC measurements, a preprocessing step is needed to stabilize the within-population variances.

flowVS: channel-specific variance stabilization in flow cytometry

DOE PAGES

Azad, Ariful; Rajwa, Bartek; Pothen, Alex

2016-07-28

Comparing phenotypes of heterogeneous cell populations from multiple biological conditions is at the heart of scientific discovery based on flow cytometry (FC). When the biological signal is measured by the average expression of a biomarker, standard statistical methods require that variance be approximately stabilized in populations to be compared. Since the mean and variance of a cell population are often correlated in fluorescence-based FC measurements, a preprocessing step is needed to stabilize the within-population variances.

Time-gated flow cytometry: an ultra-high selectivity method to recover ultra-rare-event μ-targets in high-background biosamples

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Dayong; Piper, James A.; Leif, Robert C.; Yang, Sean; Ferrari, Belinda C.; Yuan, Jingli; Wang, Guilan; Vallarino, Lidia M.; Williams, John W.

2009-03-01

A fundamental problem for rare-event cell analysis is auto-fluorescence from nontarget particles and cells. Time-gated flow cytometry is based on the temporal-domain discrimination of long-lifetime (>1 μs) luminescence-stained cells and can render invisible all nontarget cell and particles. We aim to further evaluate the technique, focusing on detection of ultra-rare-event 5-μm calibration beads in environmental water dirt samples. Europium-labeled 5-μm calibration beads with improved luminescence homogeneity and reduced aggregation were evaluated using the prototype UV LED excited time-gated luminescence (TGL) flow cytometer (FCM). A BD FACSAria flow cytometer was used to sort accurately a very low number of beads (<100 events), which were then spiked into concentrated samples of environmental water. The use of europium-labeled beads permitted the demonstration of specific detection rates of 100%+/-30% and 91%+/-3% with 10 and 100 target beads, respectively, that were mixed with over one million nontarget autofluorescent background particles. Under the same conditions, a conventional FCM was unable to recover rare-event fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) calibration beads. Preliminary results on Giardia detection are also reported. We have demonstrated the scientific value of lanthanide-complex biolabels in flow cytometry. This approach may augment the current method that uses multifluorescence-channel flow cytometry gating.

2006 Bethesda International Consensus recommendations on the immunophenotypic analysis of hematolymphoid neoplasia by flow cytometry: optimal reagents and reporting for the flow cytometric diagnosis of hematopoietic neoplasia.

PubMed

Wood, Brent L; Arroz, Maria; Barnett, David; DiGiuseppe, Joseph; Greig, Bruce; Kussick, Steven J; Oldaker, Teri; Shenkin, Mark; Stone, Elizabeth; Wallace, Paul

2007-01-01

Immunophenotyping by flow cytometry has become standard practice in the evaluation and monitoring of patients with hematopoietic neoplasia. However, despite its widespread use, considerable variability continues to exist in the reagents used for evaluation and the format in which results are reported. As part of the 2006 Bethesda Consensus conference, a committee was formed to attempt to define a consensus set of reagents suitable for general use in the diagnosis and monitoring of hematopoietic neoplasms. The committee included laboratory professionals from private, public, and university hospitals as well as large reference laboratories that routinely operate clinical flow cytometry laboratories with an emphasis on lymphoma and leukemia immunophenotyping. A survey of participants successfully identified the cell lineage(s) to be evaluated for each of a variety of specific medical indications and defined a set of consensus reagents suitable for the initial evaluation of each cell lineage. Elements to be included in the reporting of clinical flow cytometric results for leukemia and lymphoma evaluation were also refined and are comprehensively listed. The 2006 Bethesda Consensus conference represents the first successful attempt to define a set of consensus reagents suitable for the initial evaluation of hematopoietic neoplasia. Copyright 2007 Clinical Cytometry Society.

Caspase-8 Binding to Cardiolipin in Giant Unilamellar Vesicles Provides a Functional Docking Platform for Bid

PubMed Central

Perry, Mark; Granjon, Thierry; Gonzalvez, François; Gottlieb, Eyal; Ayala-Sanmartin, Jesus; Klösgen, Beate; Schwille, Petra; Petit, Patrice X.

2013-01-01

Caspase-8 is involved in death receptor-mediated apoptosis in type II cells, the proapoptotic programme of which is triggered by truncated Bid. Indeed, caspase-8 and Bid are the known intermediates of this signalling pathway. Cardiolipin has been shown to provide an anchor and an essential activating platform for caspase-8 at the mitochondrial membrane surface. Destabilisation of this platform alters receptor-mediated apoptosis in diseases such as Barth Syndrome, which is characterised by the presence of immature cardiolipin which does not allow caspase-8 binding. We used a simplified in vitro system that mimics contact sites and/or cardiolipin-enriched microdomains at the outer mitochondrial surface in which the platform consisting of caspase-8, Bid and cardiolipin was reconstituted in giant unilamellar vesicles. We analysed these vesicles by flow cytometry and confirm previous results that demonstrate the requirement for intact mature cardiolipin for caspase-8 activation and Bid binding and cleavage. We also used confocal microscopy to visualise the rupture of the vesicles and their revesiculation at smaller sizes due to alteration of the curvature following caspase-8 and Bid binding. Biophysical approaches, including Laurdan fluorescence and rupture/tension measurements, were used to determine the ability of these three components (cardiolipin, caspase-8 and Bid) to fulfil the minimal requirements for the formation and function of the platform at the mitochondrial membrane. Our results shed light on the active functional role of cardiolipin, bridging the gap between death receptors and mitochondria. PMID:23418437

Single-cell mass cytometry and transcriptome profiling reveal the impact of graphene on human immune cells.

PubMed

Orecchioni, Marco; Bedognetti, Davide; Newman, Leon; Fuoco, Claudia; Spada, Filomena; Hendrickx, Wouter; Marincola, Francesco M; Sgarrella, Francesco; Rodrigues, Artur Filipe; Ménard-Moyon, Cécilia; Cesareni, Gianni; Kostarelos, Kostas; Bianco, Alberto; Delogu, Lucia G

2017-10-24

Understanding the biomolecular interactions between graphene and human immune cells is a prerequisite for its utilization as a diagnostic or therapeutic tool. To characterize the complex interactions between graphene and immune cells, we propose an integrative analytical pipeline encompassing the evaluation of molecular and cellular parameters. Herein, we use single-cell mass cytometry to dissect the effects of graphene oxide (GO) and GO functionalized with amino groups (GONH 2 ) on 15 immune cell populations, interrogating 30 markers at the single-cell level. Next, the integration of single-cell mass cytometry with genome-wide transcriptome analysis shows that the amine groups reduce the perturbations caused by GO on cell metabolism and increase biocompatibility. Moreover, GONH 2 polarizes T-cell and monocyte activation toward a T helper-1/M1 immune response. This study describes an innovative approach for the analysis of the effects of nanomaterials on distinct immune cells, laying the foundation for the incorporation of single-cell mass cytometry on the experimental pipeline.

High throughput, parallel imaging and biomarker quantification of human spermatozoa by ImageStream flow cytometry.

PubMed

Buckman, Clayton; George, Thaddeus C; Friend, Sherree; Sutovsky, Miriam; Miranda-Vizuete, Antonio; Ozanon, Christophe; Morrissey, Phil; Sutovsky, Peter

2009-12-01

Spermatid specific thioredoxin-3 protein (SPTRX-3) accumulates in the superfluous cytoplasm of defective human spermatozoa. Novel ImageStream technology combining flow cytometry with cell imaging was used for parallel quantification and visualization of SPTRX-3 protein in defective spermatozoa of five men from infertile couples. The majority of the SPTRX-3 containing cells were overwhelmingly spermatozoa with a variety of morphological defects, detectable in the ImageStream recorded images. Quantitative parameters of relative SPTRX-3 induced fluorescence measured by ImageStream correlated closely with conventional flow cytometric measurements of the same sample set and reflected the results of clinical semen evaluation. Image Stream quantification of SPTRX-3 combines and surpasses the informative value of both conventional flow cytometry and light microscopic semen evaluation. The observed patterns of the retention of SPTRX-3 in the sperm samples from infertility patients support the view that SPTRX3 is a biomarker of male infertility.

Characterization and use of a rabbit-anti-mouse VPAC1 antibody by flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Hermann, Rebecca J.; Van der Steen, Travis; Vomhof-DeKrey, Emilie E.; Benton, Keith D.; Failing, Jarrett J.; Haring, Jodie S.; Dorsam, Glenn P.

2011-01-01

Vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor – 1 signaling in lymphocytes has been shown to regulate chemotaxis, proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. During T cell activation, VPAC1 mRNA is downregulated, but the effect on its protein levels is less clear. A small number of studies have reported measurement of human VPAC1 by flow cytometry, but murine VPAC1 reagents are unavailable. Therefore, we set out to generate a reliable and highly specific α-mouse VPAC1 polyclonal antibody for use with flow cytometry. After successfully generating a rabbit α-VPAC1 polyclonal antibody (α-mVPAC1 pAb), we characterized its cross-reactivity and showed that it does not recognize other family receptors (mouse VPAC2 and PAC1, human VPAC1, VPAC2 and PAC1) by flow cytometry. Partial purification of the rabbit α-VPAC1 sera increased the specific-activity of the α-mVPAC1 pAb by 20-fold, and immunofluorescence microscopy (IF) confirmed a plasma membrane subcellular localization for mouse VPAC1 protein. To test the usefulness of this specific α-mVPAC1 pAb, we showed that primary, resting mouse T cells express detectable levels of VPAC1 protein, with little detectable signal from activated T cells, or CD19 B cells. These data support our previously published data showing a downregulation of VPAC1 mRNA during T cell activation. Collectively, we have established a well-characterized, and highly species specific α-mVPAC1 pAb for VPAC1 surface measurement by IF and flow cytometry. PMID:22079255

Stability validation of paraformaldehyde-fixed samples for the assessment of the platelet PECAM-1, P-selectin, and PAR-1 thrombin receptor by flow cytometry.

PubMed

Atar, Oliver D; Eisert, Christian; Pokov, Ilya; Serebruany, Victor L

2010-07-01

Sample fixation for storage and/or transportation represents an unsolved challenge for multicenter clinical trials assessing serial changes in platelet activity, or monitoring various antiplatelet regimens. Whole blood flow cytometry represents a major advance in defining platelet function, although special training and expensive equipment is required. We sought to determine how fixation with 2% paraformaldehyde (PFA), and storage of blood samples over 1 week affects the flow cytometry readings for both intact and thrombin-activating four major surface platelet receptors. Whole blood platelet expression of PECAM-1, P-selectin, PAR-1 inactive receptor (SPAN-12), and cleaved (WEDE-15) epitope was assessed immediately after blood draw, after staining with 2% PFA, and at day 1, 3, 5, and 7. The study was performed in 6 volunteers with multiple risk factors for vascular disease, not receiving any antiplatelet agents. Staining with PFA resulted in a slight decrease of fluorescence intensity, especially for PECAM-1, while antigen expression at day 1, 3 and 5 remains consistent, and highly reproducible. At day 7 there was a small but inconsistent trend towards diminished fluorescence intensity. The platelet data were consistent while validated with the isotype-matched irrelevant antibody. These data suggest that there is a 5 day window to perform final flow cytometry readings of whole blood PFA-fixed inactivated platelet samples. In contrast, thrombin activation cause gradual loss of flow cytometry signal, and cannot be recommended for long-term storage. This is critical logistic information for conducting multicenter platelet substudies within the framework of major clinical trials.

Ultra-high throughput detection of single cell β-galactosidase activity in droplets using micro-optical lens array

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Jiseok; Vrignon, Jérémy; Gruner, Philipp; Karamitros, Christos S.; Konrad, Manfred; Baret, Jean-Christophe

2013-11-01

We demonstrate the use of a hybrid microfluidic-micro-optical system for the screening of enzymatic activity at the single cell level. Escherichia coli β-galactosidase activity is revealed by a fluorogenic assay in 100 pl droplets. Individual droplets containing cells are screened by measuring their fluorescence signal using a high-speed camera. The measurement is parallelized over 100 channels equipped with microlenses and analyzed by image processing. A reinjection rate of 1 ml of emulsion per minute was reached corresponding to more than 105 droplets per second, an analytical throughput larger than those obtained using flow cytometry.

Progress on an implementation of MIFlowCyt in XML

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leif, Robert C.; Leif, Stephanie H.

2015-03-01

Introduction: The International Society for Advancement of Cytometry (ISAC) Data Standards Task Force (DSTF) has created a standard for the Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment (MIFlowCyt 1.0). The CytometryML schemas, are based in part upon the Flow Cytometry Standard and Digital Imaging and Communication (DICOM) standards. CytometryML has and will be extended and adapted to include MIFlowCyt, as well as to serve as a common standard for flow and image cytometry (digital microscopy). Methods: The MIFlowCyt data-types were created, as is the rest of CytometryML, in the XML Schema Definition Language (XSD1.1). Individual major elements of the MIFlowCyt schema were translated into XML and filled with reasonable data. A small section of the code was formatted with HTML formatting elements. Results: The differences in the amount of detail to be recorded for 1) users of standard techniques including data analysts and 2) others, such as method and device creators, laboratory and other managers, engineers, and regulatory specialists required that separate data-types be created to describe the instrument configuration and components. A very substantial part of the MIFlowCyt element that describes the Experimental Overview part of the MIFlowCyt and substantial parts of several other major elements have been developed. Conclusions: The future use of structured XML tags and web technology should facilitate searching of experimental information, its presentation, and inclusion in structured research, clinical, and regulatory documents, as well as demonstrate in publications adherence to the MIFlowCyt standard. The use of CytometryML together with XML technology should also result in the textual and numeric data being published using web technology without any change in composition. Preliminary testing indicates that CytometryML XML pages can be directly formatted with the combination of HTML and CSS.

Multivariate data analysis methods for the interpretation of microbial flow cytometric data.

PubMed

Davey, Hazel M; Davey, Christopher L

2011-01-01

Flow cytometry is an important technique in cell biology and immunology and has been applied by many groups to the analysis of microorganisms. This has been made possible by developments in hardware that is now sensitive enough to be used routinely for analysis of microbes. However, in contrast to advances in the technology that underpin flow cytometry, there has not been concomitant progress in the software tools required to analyse, display and disseminate the data and manual analysis, of individual samples remains a limiting aspect of the technology. We present two new data sets that illustrate common applications of flow cytometry in microbiology and demonstrate the application of manual data analysis, automated visualisation (including the first description of a new piece of software we are developing to facilitate this), genetic programming, principal components analysis and artificial neural nets to these data. The data analysis methods described here are equally applicable to flow cytometric applications with other cell types.

Detection and quantitation of single nucleotide polymorphisms, DNA sequence variations, DNA mutations, DNA damage and DNA mismatches

DOEpatents

McCutchen-Maloney, Sandra L.

2002-01-01

DNA mutation binding proteins alone and as chimeric proteins with nucleases are used with solid supports to detect DNA sequence variations, DNA mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms. The solid supports may be flow cytometry beads, DNA chips, glass slides or DNA dips sticks. DNA molecules are coupled to solid supports to form DNA-support complexes. Labeled DNA is used with unlabeled DNA mutation binding proteins such at TthMutS to detect DNA sequence variations, DNA mutations and single nucleotide length polymorphisms by binding which gives an increase in signal. Unlabeled DNA is utilized with labeled chimeras to detect DNA sequence variations, DNA mutations and single nucleotide length polymorphisms by nuclease activity of the chimera which gives a decrease in signal.

Use of flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and PCR-based techniques to assess intraspecific and interspecific matings of Armillaria species

Treesearch

Mee-Sook Kim; Ned B. Klopfenstein; Geral I. McDonald; Kathiravetpillai Arumuganathan

2001-01-01

For assessments of intraspecific mating using flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy, two compatible basidiospore-derived isolates were selected from each of four parental basidiomata of North American Biological Species (NABS) X. The nuclear status in NABS X varied with basidiospore-derived isolates. Nuclei within basidiospore-derived isolates existed as haploids...

Candidiasis and the impact of flow cytometry on antifungal drug discovery.

PubMed

Ku, Tsun Sheng N; Bernardo, Stella; Walraven, Carla J; Lee, Samuel A

2017-11-01

Invasive candidiasis continues to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality as well as substantial health care costs nationally and globally. One of the contributing factors is the development of resistance to antifungal agents that are already in clinical use. Moreover, there are known treatment limitations with all of the available antifungal agents. Since traditional techniques in novel drug discovery are time consuming, high-throughput screening using flow cytometry presents as a potential tool to identify new antifungal agents that would be useful in the management of these patients. Areas covered: In this review, the authors discuss the use of automated high-throughput screening assays based upon flow cytometry to identify potential antifungals from a library comprised of a large number of bioactive compounds. They also review studies that employed the use of this research methodology that has identified compounds with antifungal activity. Expert opinion: High-throughput screening using flow cytometry has substantially decreased the processing time necessary for screening thousands of compounds, and has helped enhance our understanding of fungal pathogenesis. Indeed, the authors see this technology as a powerful tool to help scientists identify new antifungal agents that can be added to the clinician's arsenal in their fight against invasive candidiasis.

Assessment of cell concentration and viability of isolated hepatocytes using flow cytometry.

PubMed

Wigg, Alan J; Phillips, John W; Wheatland, Loretta; Berry, Michael N

2003-06-01

The assessment of cell concentration and viability of freshly isolated hepatocyte preparations has been traditionally performed using manual counting with a Neubauer counting chamber and staining for trypan blue exclusion. Despite the simple and rapid nature of this assessment, concerns about the accuracy of these methods exist. Simple flow cytometry techniques which determine cell concentration and viability are available yet surprisingly have not been extensively used or validated with isolated hepatocyte preparations. We therefore investigated the use of flow cytometry using TRUCOUNT Tubes and propidium iodide staining to measure cell concentration and viability of isolated rat hepatocytes in suspension. Analysis using TRUCOUNT Tubes provided more accurate and reproducible measurement of cell concentration than manual cell counting. Hepatocyte viability, assessed using propidium iodide, correlated more closely than did trypan blue exclusion with all indicators of hepatocyte integrity and function measured (lactate dehydrogenase leakage, cytochrome p450 content, cellular ATP concentration, ammonia and lactate removal, urea and albumin synthesis). We conclude that flow cytometry techniques can be used to measure cell concentration and viability of isolated hepatocyte preparations. The techniques are simple, rapid, and more accurate than manual cell counting and trypan blue staining and the results are not affected by protein-containing media.

Mouse monoclonal antibodies against human c-Mpl and characterization for flow cytometry applications.

PubMed

Abbott, Christina; Huang, Guo; Ellison, Aaron R; Chen, Ching; Arora, Taruna; Szilvassy, Stephen J; Wei, Ping

2010-04-01

Mouse monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against human c-Mpl, the cognate receptor for thrombopoietin (TPO), were generated using hybridoma technology and characterized by various assays to demonstrate their specificity and affinity. Two such MAbs, 1.6 and 1.75, were determined to be superior for flow cytometry studies and exhibited double-digit picomolar (pM) affinities to soluble human c-Mpl protein. Both MAbs specifically bound to cells engineered to overexpress human c-Mpl protein, immortalized human hematopoietic cell lines that express endogenous c-Mpl, primary human bone marrow and peripheral blood-derived CD34(+) cells, and purified human platelets. No binding was detected on cell lines that did not express c-Mpl. Receptor competition and siRNA knock-down studies further confirmed the specificity of antibodies 1.6 and 1.75 for human c-Mpl. In contrast to these newly generated MAbs, none of eight commercially available anti-c-Mpl antibodies tested were found to bind specifically to human c-Mpl and were thus shown to be unsuitable for flow cytometry studies. Monoclonal antibodies 1.6 and 1.75 will therefore be useful flow cytometry reagents to detect cell surface c-Mpl expression.

[Flow cytometry in datecting lymph node micrometastasis in colorectal cancer].

PubMed

Sun, Q; Ding, Y; Zhang, J

2001-01-25

To study the methodology and significance of flow cytometry in detecting lymph node micrometastasis of colorectal cancer. One hundred sixty-two cellular suspensions were prepared with lymph nodes which were resected radically on 25 patients with colorectal cancer and in which no cancer cells were found by HE staining. Different concentrations of cultured Lovo colorectal cancer cells were added into the celular suspension prepared from lymph node tissue of persons without colorectal cancer in order to prepare a control model. Dual staining with CK/FTTC and PI was made to the sedimetns from those 2 kinds of suspension. Flow cytometry was used to detect cancer cells. An ideal correlation was obtained between the detection value and the theoretical value of cancer cells in the specimen suspensions and control models (r = 0.097 6) with a sensitivity rate of 10/10(5). Cancer cells were detected from 7 out of the 25 patients and 30 of the 162 cellular suspensions. The detection rate was correlated with the size and infiltrating depth of the cancer. Flow cytometry is a reliable, rapid, and quantitative method for detecting lymph node micrometastasis in colorectal cancer.

Characterization of subpopulations and immune-related parameters of hemocytes in the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis.

PubMed

Wang, Youji; Hu, Menghong; Chiang, M W L; Shin, P K S; Cheung, S G

2012-03-01

The green-lipped mussel Perna viridis is distributed widely in the estuarine and coastal areas of the Indo-Pacific region and extensively cultured as an inexpensive protein source. Morphology and immunological activities of hemocytes of P. viridis were investigated using flow cytometry and light and electron microscopy. Three major types of hemocytes were identified in the hemolymph, including dense-granulocyte, semi-granulocyte (small and large size) and hyalinocyte. Other hemocytes, which occurred in low numbers, included granulocytes with different electron-dense/lucent granules and hemoblast-like cells. Based on flow cytometry, two subpopulations were identified. Granulocytes were larger cells, and the more abundant, containing numerous granules in the cytoplasm, and hyalinocytes were the smaller and less abundant with the fewest granules. Flow cytometry revealed that the granulocytes were more active in cell phagocytosis, contained the higher lysosomal content, and showed higher esterase activity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation compared with hyalinocytes. Immune functions assessed by the flow cytometry indicated that the granulocytes were the main hemocytes involved in the cellular defence in P. viridis. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Verification and characterization of chromosome duplication in haploid maize.

PubMed

de Oliveira Couto, E G; Resende Von Pinho, E V; Von Pinho, R G; Veiga, A D; de Carvalho, M R; de Oliveira Bustamante, F; Nascimento, M S

2015-06-26

Doubled haploid technology has been used by various private companies. However, information regarding chromosome duplication methodologies, particularly those concerning techniques used to identify duplication in cells, is limited. Thus, we analyzed and characterized artificially doubled haploids using microsatellites molecular markers, pollen viability, and flow cytometry techniques. Evaluated material was obtained using two different chromosome duplication protocols in maize seeds considered haploids, resulting from the cross between the haploid inducer line KEMS and 4 hybrids (GNS 3225, GNS 3032, GNS 3264, and DKB 393). Fourteen days after duplication, plant samples were collected and assessed by flow cytometry. Further, the plants were transplanted to a field, and samples were collected for DNA analyses using microsatellite markers. The tassels were collected during anthesis for pollen viability analyses. Haploid, diploid, and mixoploid individuals were detected using flow cytometry, demonstrating that this technique was efficient for identifying doubled haploids. The microsatellites markers were also efficient for confirming the ploidies preselected by flow cytometry and for identifying homozygous individuals. Pollen viability showed a significant difference between the evaluated ploidies when the Alexander and propionic-carmin stains were used. The viability rates between the plodies analyzed show potential for fertilization.

Toward development of a comprehensive external quality assurance program for polyfunctional intracellular cytokine staining assays

PubMed Central

Staats, Janet S.; Enzor, Jennifer H.; Sanchez, Ana M.; Rountree, Wes; Chan, Cliburn; Jaimes, Maria; Chan, Ray Chun-Fai; Gaur, Amitabh; Denny, Thomas N.; Weinhold, Kent J.

2014-01-01

The External Quality Assurance Program Oversight Laboratory (EQAPOL) Flow Cytometry Program assesses the proficiency of NIH/NIAID/DAIDS-supported and potentially other interested research laboratories in performing Intracellular Cytokine Staining (ICS) assays. The goal of the EQAPOL Flow Cytometry External Quality Assurance Program (EQAP) is to provide proficiency testing and remediation for participating sites. The program is not punitive; rather, EQAPOL aims to help sites identify areas for improvement. EQAPOL utilizes a highly standardized ICS assay to minimize variability and readily identify those sites experiencing technical difficulties with their assays. Here, we report the results of External Proficiency 3 (EP3) where participating sites performed a 7-color ICS assay. On average, sites perform well in the Flow Cytometry EQAP (median score is “Good”). The most common technical issues identified by the program involve protocol adherence and data analysis; these areas have been the focus of site remediation. The EQAPOL Flow Cytometry team is now in the process of expanding the program to 8-color ICS assays. Evaluating polyfunctional ICS responses would align the program with assays currently being performed in support of HIV immune monitoring assays. PMID:24968072

Flow cytometry and conventional enumeration of microorganisms in ships' ballast water and marine samples.

PubMed

Joachimsthal, Eva L; Ivanov, Volodymyr; Tay, Joo-Hwa; Tay, Stephen T-L

2003-03-01

Conventional methods for bacteriological testing of water quality take long periods of time to complete. This makes them inappropriate for a shipping industry that is attempting to comply with the International Maritime Organization's anticipated regulations for ballast water discharge. Flow cytometry for the analysis of marine and ship's ballast water is a comparatively fast and accurate method. Compared to a 5% standard error for flow cytometry analysis the standard methods of culturing and epifluorescence analysis have errors of 2-58% and 10-30%, respectively. Also, unlike culturing methods, flow cytometry is capable of detecting both non-viable and viable but non-culturable microorganisms which can still pose health risks. The great variability in both cell concentrations and microbial content for the samples tested is an indication of the difficulties facing microbial monitoring programmes. The concentration of microorganisms in the ballast tank was generally lower than in local seawater. The proportion of aerobic, microaerophilic, and facultative anaerobic microorganisms present appeared to be influenced by conditions in the ballast tank. The gradual creation of anaerobic conditions in a ballast tank could lead to the accumulation of facultative anaerobic microorganisms, which might represent a potential source of pathogenic species.

Energy and Technology Review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poggio, Andrew J.; Mayall, Brian H.

1989-04-01

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is an acknowledged world center for analytical cytology. This leadership was recognized by the Regents of the University of California (UC), who in 1982 established and funded the Program for Analytical Cytology to facilitate the transfer of this technology from scientists at LLNL to their University colleagues, primarily through innovative collaborative research. This issue of Energy and Technology Review describes three of the forty projects that have been funded in this way, chosen to illustrate the potential medical application of the research. Analytical cytology is a relatively new field of biomedical research that is increasingly being applied in clinical medicine. It has been particularly important in unraveling the complexities of the human immune system and in quantifying the pathobiology of malignancy. Defined as the characterization and measurement of cells and cellular constituents for biological and medical purposes, analytical cytology bridges the gap between the quantitative discipline of molecular biology and the more qualitative disciplines of anatomy and pathology. It is itself multidisciplinary in nature. Two major approaches to analytical cytology are flow cytometry and image cytometry. In each of these research techniques, cells are measured one at a time in an automated device. In flow instruments, the cells are dispersed in fluid suspension and pass in single file through a beam of laser light to generate optical signals that are measured. In image cytometry, cells are dispersed on a slide and are imaged through a microscope onto an electronic imaging and analysis system that processes the cell image to extract measurements of interest.

Flow Cytometry Data Preparation Guidelines for Improved Automated Phenotypic Analysis.

PubMed

Jimenez-Carretero, Daniel; Ligos, José M; Martínez-López, María; Sancho, David; Montoya, María C

2018-05-15

Advances in flow cytometry (FCM) increasingly demand adoption of computational analysis tools to tackle the ever-growing data dimensionality. In this study, we tested different data input modes to evaluate how cytometry acquisition configuration and data compensation procedures affect the performance of unsupervised phenotyping tools. An analysis workflow was set up and tested for the detection of changes in reference bead subsets and in a rare subpopulation of murine lymph node CD103 + dendritic cells acquired by conventional or spectral cytometry. Raw spectral data or pseudospectral data acquired with the full set of available detectors by conventional cytometry consistently outperformed datasets acquired and compensated according to FCM standards. Our results thus challenge the paradigm of one-fluorochrome/one-parameter acquisition in FCM for unsupervised cluster-based analysis. Instead, we propose to configure instrument acquisition to use all available fluorescence detectors and to avoid integration and compensation procedures, thereby using raw spectral or pseudospectral data for improved automated phenotypic analysis. Copyright © 2018 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.

Flow Cytometric Methods for Circulating Tumor Cell Isolation and Molecular Analysis.

PubMed

Bhagwat, Neha; Carpenter, Erica L

2017-01-01

Circulating tumor cells provide a non-invasive source of tumor material that can be valuable at all stages of disease management, including screening and early diagnosis, monitoring response to therapy, identifying therapeutic targets, and assessing development of drug resistance. Cells isolated from the blood of cancer patients can be used for phenotypic analysis, tumor genotyping, transcriptional profiling, as well as for ex vivo culture of isolated cells. There are a variety of novel technologies currently being developed for the detection and analysis of rare cells in circulation of cancer patients. Flow cytometry is a powerful cell analysis platform that is increasingly being used in this field of study due to its relatively high throughput and versatility with respect to the large number of commercially available antibodies and fluorescent probes available to translational and clinical researchers. More importantly, it offers the ability to easily recover viable cells with high purity that are suitable for downstream molecular analysis, thus making it an attractive technology for cancer research and as a diagnostic tool.

Minimal Residual Disease Evaluation in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: An Economic Analysis

PubMed Central

Gajic-Veljanoski, O.; Pham, B.; Pechlivanoglou, P.; Krahn, M.; Higgins, Caroline; Bielecki, Joanna

2016-01-01

Background Minimal residual disease (MRD) testing by higher performance techniques such as flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be used to detect the proportion of remaining leukemic cells in bone marrow or peripheral blood during and after the first phases of chemotherapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The results of MRD testing are used to reclassify these patients and guide changes in treatment according to their future risk of relapse. We conducted a systematic review of the economic literature, cost-effectiveness analysis, and budget-impact analysis to ascertain the cost-effectiveness and economic impact of MRD testing by flow cytometry for management of childhood precursor B-cell ALL in Ontario. Methods A systematic literature search (1998–2014) identified studies that examined the incremental cost-effectiveness of MRD testing by either flow cytometry or PCR. We developed a lifetime state-transition (Markov) microsimulation model to quantify the cost-effectiveness of MRD testing followed by risk-directed therapy to no MRD testing and to estimate its marginal effect on health outcomes and on costs. Model input parameters were based on the literature, expert opinion, and data from the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario Networked Information System. Using predictions from our Markov model, we estimated the 1-year cost burden of MRD testing versus no testing and forecasted its economic impact over 3 and 5 years. Results In a base-case cost-effectiveness analysis, compared with no testing, MRD testing by flow cytometry at the end of induction and consolidation was associated with an increased discounted survival of 0.0958 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and increased discounted costs of $4,180, yielding an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $43,613/QALY gained. After accounting for parameter uncertainty, incremental cost-effectiveness of MRD testing was associated with an ICER of $50,249/QALY gained. In the budget-impact analysis, the 1-year cost expenditure for MRD testing by flow cytometry in newly diagnosed patients with precursor B-cell ALL was estimated at $340,760. We forecasted that the province would have to pay approximately $1.3 million over 3 years and $2.4 million over 5 years for MRD testing by flow cytometry in this population. Conclusions Compared with no testing, MRD testing by flow cytometry in newly diagnosed patients with precursor B-cell ALL represents good value for money at commonly used willingness-to-pay thresholds of $50,000/QALY and $100,000/QALY. PMID:27099644

Minimal Residual Disease Evaluation in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: An Economic Analysis.

PubMed

2016-01-01

Minimal residual disease (MRD) testing by higher performance techniques such as flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be used to detect the proportion of remaining leukemic cells in bone marrow or peripheral blood during and after the first phases of chemotherapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The results of MRD testing are used to reclassify these patients and guide changes in treatment according to their future risk of relapse. We conducted a systematic review of the economic literature, cost-effectiveness analysis, and budget-impact analysis to ascertain the cost-effectiveness and economic impact of MRD testing by flow cytometry for management of childhood precursor B-cell ALL in Ontario. A systematic literature search (1998-2014) identified studies that examined the incremental cost-effectiveness of MRD testing by either flow cytometry or PCR. We developed a lifetime state-transition (Markov) microsimulation model to quantify the cost-effectiveness of MRD testing followed by risk-directed therapy to no MRD testing and to estimate its marginal effect on health outcomes and on costs. Model input parameters were based on the literature, expert opinion, and data from the Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario Networked Information System. Using predictions from our Markov model, we estimated the 1-year cost burden of MRD testing versus no testing and forecasted its economic impact over 3 and 5 years. In a base-case cost-effectiveness analysis, compared with no testing, MRD testing by flow cytometry at the end of induction and consolidation was associated with an increased discounted survival of 0.0958 quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and increased discounted costs of $4,180, yielding an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of $43,613/QALY gained. After accounting for parameter uncertainty, incremental cost-effectiveness of MRD testing was associated with an ICER of $50,249/QALY gained. In the budget-impact analysis, the 1-year cost expenditure for MRD testing by flow cytometry in newly diagnosed patients with precursor B-cell ALL was estimated at $340,760. We forecasted that the province would have to pay approximately $1.3 million over 3 years and $2.4 million over 5 years for MRD testing by flow cytometry in this population. Compared with no testing, MRD testing by flow cytometry in newly diagnosed patients with precursor B-cell ALL represents good value for money at commonly used willingness-to-pay thresholds of $50,000/QALY and $100,000/QALY.

3D flow focusing for microfluidic flow cytometry with ultrasonics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gnyawali, Vaskar; Strohm, Eric M.; Daghighi, Yasaman; van de Vondervoort, Mia; Kolios, Michael C.; Tsai, Scott S. H.

2015-11-01

We are developing a flow cytometer that detects unique acoustic signature waves generated from single cells due to interactions between the cells and ultrasound waves. The generated acoustic waves depend on the size and biomechanical properties of the cells and are sufficient for identifying cells in the medium. A microfluidic system capable of focusing cells through a 10 x 10 μm ultrasound beam cross section was developed to facilitate acoustic measurements of single cells. The cells are streamlined in a hydro-dynamically 3D focused flow in a 300 x 300 μm channel made using PDMS. 3D focusing is realized by lateral sheath flows and an inlet needle (inner diameter 100 μm). The accuracy of the 3D flow focusing is measured using a dye and detecting its localization using confocal microscopy. Each flowing cell would be probed by an ultrasound pulse, which has a center frequency of 375 MHz and bandwidth of 250 MHz. The same probe would also be used for recording the scattered waves from the cells, which would be processed to distinguish the physical and biomechanical characteristics of the cells, eventually identifying them. This technique has potential applications in detecting circulating tumor cells, blood cells and blood-related diseases.

An introduction to mass cytometry: fundamentals and applications.

PubMed

Tanner, Scott D; Baranov, Vladimir I; Ornatsky, Olga I; Bandura, Dmitry R; George, Thaddeus C

2013-05-01

Mass cytometry addresses the analytical challenges of polychromatic flow cytometry by using metal atoms as tags rather than fluorophores and atomic mass spectrometry as the detector rather than photon optics. The many available enriched stable isotopes of the transition elements can provide up to 100 distinguishable reporting tags, which can be measured simultaneously because of the essential independence of detection provided by the mass spectrometer. We discuss the adaptation of traditional inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to cytometry applications. We focus on the generation of cytometry-compatible data and on approaches to unsupervised multivariate clustering analysis. Finally, we provide a high-level review of some recent benchmark reports that highlight the potential for massively multi-parameter mass cytometry.

Effect of cryopreservation on delineation of immune cell subpopulations in tumor specimens as determinated by multiparametric single cell mass cytometry analysis.

PubMed

Kadić, Elma; Moniz, Raymond J; Huo, Ying; Chi, An; Kariv, Ilona

2017-02-02

Comprehensive understanding of cellular immune subsets involved in regulation of tumor progression is central to the development of cancer immunotherapies. Single cell immunophenotyping has historically been accomplished by flow cytometry (FC) analysis, enabling the analysis of up to 18 markers. Recent advancements in mass cytometry (MC) have facilitated detection of over 50 markers, utilizing high resolving power of mass spectrometry (MS). This study examined an analytical and operational feasibility of MC for an in-depth immunophenotyping analysis of the tumor microenvironment, using the commercial CyTOF™ instrument, and further interrogated challenges in managing the integrity of tumor specimens. Initial longitudinal studies with frozen peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) showed minimal MC inter-assay variability over nine independent runs. In addition, detection of common leukocyte lineage markers using MC and FC detection confirmed that these methodologies are comparable in cell subset identification. An advanced multiparametric MC analysis of 39 total markers enabled a comprehensive evaluation of cell surface marker expression in fresh and cryopreserved tumor samples. This comparative analysis revealed significant reduction of expression levels of multiple markers upon cryopreservation. Most notably myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSC), defined by co-expression of CD66b + and CD15 + , HLA-DR dim and CD14 - phenotype, were undetectable in frozen samples. These results suggest that optimization and evaluation of cryopreservation protocols is necessary for accurate biomarker discovery in frozen tumor specimens.

Flow cytometry of sputum: assessing inflammation and immune response elements in the bronchial airways

PubMed Central

Lay, John C.; Peden, David B.; Alexis, Neil E.

2012-01-01

Background The evaluation of sputum leukocytes by flow cytometry is an opportunity to assess characteristics of cells residing in the central airways, yet it is hampered by certain inherent properties of sputum including mucus and large amounts of contaminating cells and debris. Objective To develop a gating strategy based on specific antibody panels in combination with light scatter properties for flow cytometric evaluation of sputum cells. Methods Healthy and mild asthmatic volunteers underwent sputum induction. Manually selected mucus “plug” material was treated with dithiothrietol, filtered and total leukocytes acquired. Multicolor flow cytometry was performed using specific gating strategies based on light scatter properties, differential expression of CD45 and cell lineage markers to discriminate leukocytes from squamous epithelial cells and debris. Results The combination of forward scatter and CD45 expression reliably segregated sputum leukocytes from contaminating squamous epithelial cells and debris. Overlap of major leukocyte populations (neutrophils, macrophages/monocytes) required the use of specific antibodies (e.g. CD16, CD64, CD14, HLA-DR) that differentiated granulocytes from monocytes and macrophages. These gating strategies allowed identification of small populations of eosinophils, CD11c+ myeloid dendritic cells, B cells and NK cells. Conclusions Multicolor flow cytometry can be successfully applied to sputum samples to identify and characterize leukocyte populations residing on the surfaces of the central airways. PMID:21639708

High throughput, real-time detection of Naegleria lovaniensis in natural river water using LED-illuminated Fountain Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Johnson, P E; Deromedi, A J; Lebaron, P; Catala, P; Havens, C; Pougnard, C

2007-09-01

To test Fountain Flow Cytometry (FFC) for the rapid and sensitive detection of Naegleria lovaniensis amoebae (an analogue for Naegleria fowleri) in natural river waters. Samples were incubated with one of two fluorescent labels to facilitate detection: ChemChrome V6, a viability indicator, and an R-phycoerytherin (RPE) immunolabel to detect N. lovaniensis specifically. The resulting aqueous sample was passed as a stream in front of a light-emitting diode, which excited the fluorescent labels. The fluorescence was detected with a digital camera as the sample flowed toward the imager. Detections of N. lovaniensis were made in inoculated samples of natural water from eight rivers in France and the United States. FFC enumeration yielded results that are consistent with other counting methods: solid-phase cytometry, flow cytometry, and hemocytometry, down to concentrations of 0.06 amoebae ml(-1), using a flow rate of 15 ml min(-1). This study supports the efficacy of using FFC for the detection of viable protozoa in natural waters and indicates that use of RPE illuminated at 530 nm and detected at 585 nm provides a satisfactory means of attenuating background. Because of the severe global public health issues with drinking water and sanitation, there is an urgent need to develop a technique for the real-time detection of viable pathogens in environmental samples at low concentrations. FFC addresses this need.

Comparison of flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy and spectrofluorometry for analysis of gene electrotransfer efficiency.

PubMed

Marjanovič, Igor; Kandušer, Maša; Miklavčič, Damijan; Keber, Mateja Manček; Pavlin, Mojca

2014-12-01

In this study, we compared three different methods used for quantification of gene electrotransfer efficiency: fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry and spectrofluorometry. We used CHO and B16 cells in a suspension and plasmid coding for GFP. The aim of this study was to compare and analyse the results obtained by fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry and spectrofluorometry and in addition to analyse the applicability of spectrofluorometry for quantifying gene electrotransfer on cells in a suspension. Our results show that all the three methods detected similar critical electric field strength, around 0.55 kV/cm for both cell lines. Moreover, results obtained on CHO cells showed that the total fluorescence intensity and percentage of transfection exhibit similar increase in response to increase electric field strength for all the three methods. For B16 cells, there was a good correlation at low electric field strengths, but at high field strengths, flow cytometer results deviated from results obtained by fluorescence microscope and spectrofluorometer. Our study showed that all the three methods detected similar critical electric field strengths and high correlations of results were obtained except for B16 cells at high electric field strengths. The results also demonstrated that flow cytometry measures higher values of percentage transfection compared to microscopy. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that spectrofluorometry can be used as a simple and consistent method to determine gene electrotransfer efficiency on cells in a suspension.

Imaging Flow Cytometry Analysis to Identify Differences of Survival Motor Neuron Protein Expression in Patients With Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

PubMed

Arakawa, Reiko; Arakawa, Masayuki; Kaneko, Kaori; Otsuki, Noriko; Aoki, Ryoko; Saito, Kayoko

2016-08-01

Spinal muscular atrophy is a neurodegenerative disorder caused by the deficient expression of survival motor neuron protein in motor neurons. A major goal of disease-modifying therapy is to increase survival motor neuron expression. Changes in survival motor neuron protein expression can be monitored via peripheral blood cells in patients; therefore we tested the sensitivity and utility of imaging flow cytometry for this purpose. After the immortalization of peripheral blood lymphocytes from a human healthy control subject and two patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 with two and three copies of SMN2 gene, respectively, we used imaging flow cytometry analysis to identify significant differences in survival motor neuron expression. A bright detail intensity analysis was used to investigate differences in the cellular localization of survival motor neuron protein. Survival motor neuron expression was significantly decreased in cells derived from patients with spinal muscular atrophy relative to those derived from a healthy control subject. Moreover, survival motor neuron expression correlated with the clinical severity of spinal muscular atrophy according to SMN2 copy number. The cellular accumulation of survival motor neuron protein was also significantly decreased in cells derived from patients with spinal muscular atrophy relative to those derived from a healthy control subject. The benefits of imaging flow cytometry for peripheral blood analysis include its capacities for analyzing heterogeneous cell populations; visualizing cell morphology; and evaluating the accumulation, localization, and expression of a target protein. Imaging flow cytometry analysis should be implemented in future studies to optimize its application as a tool for spinal muscular atrophy clinical trials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Detection, isolation, and capture of circulating breast cancer cells with photoacoustic flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhattacharyya, Kiran; Njoroge, Martin; Goldschmidt, Benjamin S.; Gaffigan, Brian; Rood, Kyle; Viator, John A.

2013-03-01

According to the CDC, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer related deaths among women. Metastasis, or the presence of secondary tumors caused by the spread of cancer cells via the circulatory or lymphatic systems, significantly worsens the prognosis of any breast cancer patient. In this study, a technique is developed to detect circulating breast cancer cells in human blood using a photoacoustic flow cytometry method. A Q-switched laser with a 5 ns pulse at 532 nm is used to interrogate thousands of cells with one pulse as they flow through the beam path. Cells which are pigmented, either naturally or artificially, emit an ultrasound wave as a result of the photoacoustic (PA) effect. Breast cancer cells are targeted with chromophores through immunochemistry in order to provide pigment. After which, the device is calibrated to demonstrate a single-cell detection limit. Cultured breast cancer cells are added to whole blood to reach a biologically relevant concentration of about 25-45 breast cancer cells per 1 mL of blood. An in vitro photoacoustic flow cytometer is used to detect and isolate these cells followed by capture with the use of a micromanipulator. This method can not only be used to determine the disease state of the patient and the response to therapy, it can also be used for genetic testing and in vitro drug trials since the circulating cell can be captured and studied.

Deconstructing stem cell population heterogeneity: Single-cell analysis and modeling approaches

PubMed Central

Wu, Jincheng; Tzanakakis, Emmanuel S.

2014-01-01

Isogenic stem cell populations display cell-to-cell variations in a multitude of attributes including gene or protein expression, epigenetic state, morphology, proliferation and proclivity for differentiation. The origins of the observed heterogeneity and its roles in the maintenance of pluripotency and the lineage specification of stem cells remain unclear. Addressing pertinent questions will require the employment of single-cell analysis methods as traditional cell biochemical and biomolecular assays yield mostly population-average data. In addition to time-lapse microscopy and flow cytometry, recent advances in single-cell genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic profiling are reviewed. The application of multiple displacement amplification, next generation sequencing, mass cytometry and spectrometry to stem cell systems is expected to provide a wealth of information affording unprecedented levels of multiparametric characterization of cell ensembles under defined conditions promoting pluripotency or commitment. Establishing connections between single-cell analysis information and the observed phenotypes will also require suitable mathematical models. Stem cell self-renewal and differentiation are orchestrated by the coordinated regulation of subcellular, intercellular and niche-wide processes spanning multiple time scales. Here, we discuss different modeling approaches and challenges arising from their application to stem cell populations. Integrating single-cell analysis with computational methods will fill gaps in our knowledge about the functions of heterogeneity in stem cell physiology. This combination will also aid the rational design of efficient differentiation and reprogramming strategies as well as bioprocesses for the production of clinically valuable stem cell derivatives. PMID:24035899

A simple and efficient method for poly-3-hydroxybutyrate quantification in diazotrophic bacteria within 5 minutes using flow cytometry.

PubMed

Alves, L P S; Almeida, A T; Cruz, L M; Pedrosa, F O; de Souza, E M; Chubatsu, L S; Müller-Santos, M; Valdameri, G

2017-01-16

The conventional method for quantification of polyhydroxyalkanoates based on whole-cell methanolysis and gas chromatography (GC) is laborious and time-consuming. In this work, a method based on flow cytometry of Nile red stained bacterial cells was established to quantify poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production by the diazotrophic and plant-associated bacteria, Herbaspirillum seropedicae and Azospirillum brasilense. The method consists of three steps: i) cell permeabilization, ii) Nile red staining, and iii) analysis by flow cytometry. The method was optimized step-by-step and can be carried out in less than 5 min. The final results indicated a high correlation coefficient (R2=0.99) compared to a standard method based on methanolysis and GC. This method was successfully applied to the quantification of PHB in epiphytic bacteria isolated from rice roots.

Flow cytometry as a method for the evaluation of raw material, product and process in the dairy industry.

PubMed

Ruszczyńska, A; Szteyn, J; Wiszniewska-Laszczych, A

2007-01-01

Producing dairy products which are safe for consumers requires the constant monitoring of the microbiological quality of raw material, the production process itself and the end product. Traditional methods, still a "gold standard", require a specialized laboratory working on recognized and validated methods. Obtaining results is time- and labor-consuming and do not allow rapid evaluation. Hence, there is a need for a rapid, precise method enabling the real-time monitoring of microbiological quality, and flow cytometry serves this function well. It is based on labeling cells suspended in a solution with fluorescent dyes and pumping them into a measurement zone where they are exposed to a precisely focused laser beam. This paper is aimed at presenting the possibilities of applying flow cytometry in the dairy industry.

Identification and immunophenotypic characterization of normal and pathological mast cells.

PubMed

Morgado, José Mário; Sánchez-Muñoz, Laura; Teodósio, Cristina; Escribano, Luís

2014-01-01

Mast cells (MCs) are secretory cells that are central players in human allergic disease and immune responses. With the exception of a few pathological situations, MCs are usually present at relatively low frequencies in most tissues. Since their first description, MCs in tissues were identified mostly using their morphological characteristics and their typical coloration when stained with aniline dyes. However, increasing availability of highly specific antibodies now permits the use of fluorescence-based flow cytometry as the method of choice for the quantification, characterization, and purification of cells in suspension. This technique allows for a rapid analysis of thousands of events and for the identification of cells present at frequencies as low as one event in 10(6) unwanted cells. This method also permits for simultaneous characterization of multiple antigens at a single-cell level, which is ideal in order to study rare populations of cells like MCs. Here we describe the basis of flow cytometry-based immunophenotyping applied to the study of MC. The protocol focuses on the study of human MCs present in body fluids (mainly bone marrow) but can easily be adapted to study MCs from other tissues and species.

Oriented conjugates of monoclonal and single-domain antibodies with quantum dots for flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry diagnostic applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sukhanova, Alyona; Even-Desrumeaux, Klervi; Millot, Jean-Marc; Chames, Patrick; Baty, Daniel; Artemyev, Mikhail; Oleinikov, Vladimir; Cohen, Jacques H. M.; Nabiev, Igor

2012-03-01

Ideal diagnostic nanoprobes should not exceed 15 nm in size and should contain high-affinity homogeneously oriented capture molecules on their surface. An advanced procedure for antibody (Ab) reduction was used to cleave each Ab into two functional half-Abs, 75-kDa heavy-light chain fragments, each containing an intact antigen-binding site. Affinity purification of half-Abs followed by their linkage to quantum dots (QDs) yielded oriented QD-Ab conjugates whose functionality was considerably improved compared to those obtained using the standard protocols. Ultrasmall diagnostic nanoprobes were engineered through oriented conjugation of QDs with 13-kDa single-domain Abs (sdAbs) derived from llama IgG. sdAbs were tagged with QDs via an additional cysteine residue specifically integrated into the C-terminal region of sdAb using genetic engineering. This approach made it possible to obtain sdAb-QD nanoprobes <12 nm in diameter comprising four copies of sdAbs linked to the same QD in an oriented manner. sdAb-QD conjugates against carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and HER2 exhibited an extremely high specificity in flow cytometry; the quality of immunohistochemical labeling of biopsy samples was found to be superior to that of labeling according to the current "gold standard" protocols of anatomo-pathological practice. The nano-bioengineering approaches developed can be extended to oriented conjugation of Abs and sdAbs with different semiconductor, noble metal, or magnetic nanoparticles.

Effective Immunological Guidance of Genetic Analyses Including Exome Sequencing in Patients Evaluated for Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.

PubMed

Ammann, Sandra; Lehmberg, Kai; Zur Stadt, Udo; Klemann, Christian; Bode, Sebastian F N; Speckmann, Carsten; Janka, Gritta; Wustrau, Katharina; Rakhmanov, Mirzokhid; Fuchs, Ilka; Hennies, Hans C; Ehl, Stephan

2017-11-01

We report our experience in using flow cytometry-based immunological screening prospectively as a decision tool for the use of genetic studies in the diagnostic approach to patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). We restricted genetic analysis largely to patients with abnormal immunological screening, but included whole exome sequencing (WES) for those with normal findings upon Sanger sequencing. Among 290 children with suspected HLH analyzed between 2010 and 2014 (including 17 affected, but asymptomatic siblings), 87/162 patients with "full" HLH and 79/111 patients with "incomplete/atypical" HLH had normal immunological screening results. In 10 patients, degranulation could not be tested. Among the 166 patients with normal screening, genetic analysis was not performed in 107 (all with uneventful follow-up), while 154 single gene tests by Sanger sequencing in the remaining 59 patients only identified a single atypical CHS patient. Flow cytometry correctly predicted all 29 patients with FHL-2, XLP1 or 2. Among 85 patients with defective NK degranulation (including 13 asymptomatic siblings), 70 were Sanger sequenced resulting in a genetic diagnosis in 55 (79%). Eight patients underwent WES, revealing mutations in two known and one unknown cytotoxicity genes and one metabolic disease. FHL3 was the most frequent genetic diagnosis. Immunological screening provided an excellent decision tool for the need and depth of genetic analysis of HLH patients and provided functionally relevant information for rapid patient classification, contributing to a significant reduction in the time from diagnosis to transplantation in recent years.

Evaluation of the immunological profile of antibody-functionalized metal-filled single-walled carbon nanocapsules for targeted radiotherapy.

PubMed

Perez Ruiz de Garibay, Aritz; Spinato, Cinzia; Klippstein, Rebecca; Bourgognon, Maxime; Martincic, Markus; Pach, Elzbieta; Ballesteros, Belén; Ménard-Moyon, Cécilia; Al-Jamal, Khuloud T; Tobias, Gerard; Bianco, Alberto

2017-02-15

This study investigates the immune responses induced by metal-filled single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) under in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo settings. Either empty amino-functionalized CNTs [SWCNT-NH 2 (1)] or samarium chloride-filled amino-functionalized CNTs with [SmCl 3 @SWCNT-mAb (3)] or without [SmCl 3 @SWCNT-NH 2 (2)] Cetuximab functionalization were tested. Conjugates were added to RAW 264.7 or PBMC cells in a range of 1 μg/ml to 100 μg/ml for 24 h. Cell viability and IL-6/TNFα production were determined by flow cytometry and ELISA. Additionally, the effect of SWCNTs on the number of T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and monocytes within the PBMC subpopulations was evaluated by immunostaining and flow cytometry. The effect on monocyte number in living mice was assessed after tail vein injection (150 μg of each conjugate per mouse) at 1, 7 and 13 days post-injection. Overall, our study showed that all the conjugates had no significant effect on cell viability of RAW 264.7 but conjugates 1 and 3 led to a slight increase in IL-6/TNFα. All the conjugates resulted in significant reduction in monocyte/macrophage cell numbers within PBMCs in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, monocyte depletion was not observed in vivo, suggesting their suitability for future testing in the field of targeted radiotherapy in mice.

Evaluation of the immunological profile of antibody-functionalized metal-filled single-walled carbon nanocapsules for targeted radiotherapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez Ruiz de Garibay, Aritz; Spinato, Cinzia; Klippstein, Rebecca; Bourgognon, Maxime; Martincic, Markus; Pach, Elzbieta; Ballesteros, Belén; Ménard-Moyon, Cécilia; Al-Jamal, Khuloud T.; Tobias, Gerard; Bianco, Alberto

2017-02-01

This study investigates the immune responses induced by metal-filled single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) under in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo settings. Either empty amino-functionalized CNTs [SWCNT-NH2 (1)] or samarium chloride-filled amino-functionalized CNTs with [SmCl3@SWCNT-mAb (3)] or without [SmCl3@SWCNT-NH2 (2)] Cetuximab functionalization were tested. Conjugates were added to RAW 264.7 or PBMC cells in a range of 1 μg/ml to 100 μg/ml for 24 h. Cell viability and IL-6/TNFα production were determined by flow cytometry and ELISA. Additionally, the effect of SWCNTs on the number of T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and monocytes within the PBMC subpopulations was evaluated by immunostaining and flow cytometry. The effect on monocyte number in living mice was assessed after tail vein injection (150 μg of each conjugate per mouse) at 1, 7 and 13 days post-injection. Overall, our study showed that all the conjugates had no significant effect on cell viability of RAW 264.7 but conjugates 1 and 3 led to a slight increase in IL-6/TNFα. All the conjugates resulted in significant reduction in monocyte/macrophage cell numbers within PBMCs in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, monocyte depletion was not observed in vivo, suggesting their suitability for future testing in the field of targeted radiotherapy in mice.

Targeting Breast Cancer Vasculature

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-03-01

E., and Hanahan, D. Stage-specific vascular markers revealed by phage display in a mouse model of pancreatic islet tumorigenesis. Cancer Cell 4:393...expressing full-length myc-tagged metadherin, myc-vimen- tin, or myc-pCMV were analyzed by flow cytometry . Anti-myc antibodies were applied to the cells...In 4T1 tumor cell extracts, anti-metadherin(378-440) detectedthen stained with anti-myc antibodies. Using flow cytometry , proteins with apparent

Addressing the malaria drug resistance challenge using flow cytometry to discover new antimalarials.

PubMed

Grimberg, Brian T; Jaworska, Maria M; Hough, Lindsay B; Zimmerman, Peter A; Phillips, James G

2009-09-15

A new flow cytometry method that uses an optimized DNA and RNA staining strategy to monitor the growth and development of the Plasmodium falciparum strain W2mef has been used in a pilot study and has identified Bay 43-9006 1, SU 11274 2, and TMC 125 5 as compounds that exhibit potent (<1 microM) overall and ring stage in vitro antimalarial activity.

In vivo, label-free, and noninvasive detection of melanoma metastasis by photoacoustic flow cytometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Rongrong; Wang, Cheng; Hu, Cheng; Wang, Xueding; Wei, Xunbin

2014-02-01

Melanoma, a malignant tumor of melanocytes, is the most serious type of skin cancer in the world. It accounts for about 80% of deaths of all skin cancer. For cancer detection, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) serve as a marker for metastasis development, cancer recurrence, and therapeutic efficacy. Melanoma tumor cells have high content of melanin, which has high light absorption and can serve as endogenous biomarker for CTC detection without labeling. Here, we have developed an in vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) to monitor the metastatic process of melanoma cancer by counting CTCs of melanoma tumor bearing mice in vivo. To test in vivo PAFC's capability of detecting melanoma cancer, we have constructed a melanoma tumor model by subcutaneous inoculation of highly metastatic murine melanoma cancer cells, B16F10. In order to effectively distinguish the targeting PA signals from background noise, we have used the algorithm of Wavelet denoising method to reduce the background noise. The in vivo flow cytometry (IVFC) has shown a great potential for detecting circulating tumor cells quantitatively in the blood stream. Compared with fluorescence-based in vivo flow cytometry (IVFC), PAFC technique can be used for in vivo, label-free, and noninvasive detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs).

Advantages of flow cytometry immunophenotyping for the diagnosis of central nervous system non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in AIDS patients.

PubMed

Subirá, D; Górgolas, M; Castañón, S; Serrano, C; Román, A; Rivas, F; Tomás, J F

2005-01-01

Neurological disorders are common in HIV-infected patients. Central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma should always be considered because it is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. To investigate the clinical utility of flow cytometry immunophenotyping (FCI) in diagnosing or discarding leptomeningeal involvement in HIV-infected patients and to compare its sensitivity with that of conventional cytological methods. Fifty-six cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 29 HIV-infected patients were independently evaluated by flow cytometry and cytology. The description of an aberrant immunophenotype was the criterion used to define the malignant nature of any CSF cell population. FCI and cytology gave concordant results for 48 of the 56 CSF samples studied: 37 were negative for malignancy and 11 had evidence of CNS lymphoma. Discordant results were obtained for eight CSF samples, and the accuracy of the FCI findings could be demonstrated for four CSF samples described as positive for malignancy according to the FCI criteria. A high level of agreement was found between the results obtained using the two methods, but FCI gave at least 25% higher sensitivity than conventional cytomorphological methods for the detection of malignant cells. This advantage suggests that, in case of negative flow cytometry results, disorders other than non-Hodgkin's lymphoma should be strongly considered.

Immunological tools: engaging students in the use and analysis of flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

PubMed

Ott, Laura E; Carson, Susan

2014-01-01

Flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are commonly used techniques associated with clinical and research applications within the immunology and medical fields. The use of these techniques is becoming increasingly valuable in many life science and engineering disciplines as well. Herein, we report the development and evaluation of a novel half-semester course that focused on introducing undergraduate and graduate students to advance conceptual and technical skills associated with flow cytometry and ELISA, with emphasis on applications, experimental design, and data analysis. This course was offered in the North Carolina State University Biotechnology Program over three semesters and consisted of weekly lectures and laboratories. Students performed and/or analyzed flow cytometry and ELISA in three separate laboratory exercises: (1) identification of transgenic zebrafish hematopoietic cells, (2) analysis of transfection efficiency, and (3) analysis of cytokine production upon lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Student learning outcomes were achieved as demonstrated by multiple means of assessment, including three laboratory reports, a data analysis laboratory practicum, and a cumulative final exam. Further, anonymous student self-assessment revealed increased student confidence in the knowledge and skill sets defined in the learning outcomes. Copyright © 2014 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Noninvasive High-Throughput Single-Cell Analysis of the Intracellular pH of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Ratiometric Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Valkonen, Mari; Mojzita, Dominik; Penttilä, Merja

2013-01-01

The ability of cells to maintain pH homeostasis in response to environmental changes has elicited interest in basic and applied research and has prompted the development of methods for intracellular pH measurements. Many traditional methods provide information at population level and thus the average values of the studied cell physiological phenomena, excluding the fact that cell cultures are very heterogeneous. Single-cell analysis, on the other hand, offers more detailed insight into population variability, thereby facilitating a considerably deeper understanding of cell physiology. Although microscopy methods can address this issue, they suffer from limitations in terms of the small number of individual cells that can be studied and complicated image processing. We developed a noninvasive high-throughput method that employs flow cytometry to analyze large populations of cells that express pHluorin, a genetically encoded ratiometric fluorescent probe that is sensitive to pH. The method described here enables measurement of the intracellular pH of single cells with high sensitivity and speed, which is a clear improvement compared to previously published methods that either require pretreatment of the cells, measure cell populations, or require complex data analysis. The ratios of fluorescence intensities, which correlate to the intracellular pH, are independent of the expression levels of the pH probe, making the use of transiently or extrachromosomally expressed probes possible. We conducted an experiment on the kinetics of the pH homeostasis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultures grown to a stationary phase after ethanol or glucose addition and after exposure to weak acid stress and glucose pulse. Minor populations with pH homeostasis behaving differently upon treatments were identified. PMID:24038689

Noninvasive high-throughput single-cell analysis of the intracellular pH of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by ratiometric flow cytometry.

PubMed

Valkonen, Mari; Mojzita, Dominik; Penttilä, Merja; Bencina, Mojca

2013-12-01

The ability of cells to maintain pH homeostasis in response to environmental changes has elicited interest in basic and applied research and has prompted the development of methods for intracellular pH measurements. Many traditional methods provide information at population level and thus the average values of the studied cell physiological phenomena, excluding the fact that cell cultures are very heterogeneous. Single-cell analysis, on the other hand, offers more detailed insight into population variability, thereby facilitating a considerably deeper understanding of cell physiology. Although microscopy methods can address this issue, they suffer from limitations in terms of the small number of individual cells that can be studied and complicated image processing. We developed a noninvasive high-throughput method that employs flow cytometry to analyze large populations of cells that express pHluorin, a genetically encoded ratiometric fluorescent probe that is sensitive to pH. The method described here enables measurement of the intracellular pH of single cells with high sensitivity and speed, which is a clear improvement compared to previously published methods that either require pretreatment of the cells, measure cell populations, or require complex data analysis. The ratios of fluorescence intensities, which correlate to the intracellular pH, are independent of the expression levels of the pH probe, making the use of transiently or extrachromosomally expressed probes possible. We conducted an experiment on the kinetics of the pH homeostasis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultures grown to a stationary phase after ethanol or glucose addition and after exposure to weak acid stress and glucose pulse. Minor populations with pH homeostasis behaving differently upon treatments were identified.

Node-pore sensing enables label-free surface-marker profiling of single cells.

PubMed

Balakrishnan, Karthik R; Whang, Jeremy C; Hwang, Richard; Hack, James H; Godley, Lucy A; Sohn, Lydia L

2015-03-03

Flow cytometry is a ubiquitous, multiparametric method for characterizing cellular populations. However, this method can grow increasingly complex with the number of proteins that need to be screened simultaneously: spectral emission overlap of fluorophores and the subsequent need for compensation, lengthy sample preparation, and multiple control tests that need to be performed separately must all be considered. These factors lead to increased costs, and consequently, flow cytometry is performed in core facilities with a dedicated technician operating the instrument. Here, we describe a low-cost, label-free microfluidic method that can determine the phenotypic profiles of single cells. Our method employs Node-Pore Sensing to measure the transit times of cells as they interact with a series of different antibodies, each corresponding to a specific cell-surface antigen, that have been functionalized in a single microfluidic channel. We demonstrate the capabilities of our method not only by screening two acute promyelocytic leukemia human cells lines (NB4 and AP-1060) for myeloid antigens, CD13, CD14, CD15, and CD33, simultaneously, but also by distinguishing a mixture of cells of similar size—AP-1060 and NALM-1—based on surface markers CD13 and HLA-DR. Furthermore, we show that our method can screen complex subpopulations in clinical samples: we successfully identified the blast population in primary human bone marrow samples from patients with acute myeloid leukemia and screened these cells for CD13, CD34, and HLA-DR. We show that our label-free method is an affordable, highly sensitive, and user-friendly technology that has the potential to transform cellular screening at the benchside.

Locked Nucleic Acid Flow Cytometry-fluorescence in situ Hybridization (LNA flow-FISH): A Method for Bacterial Small RNA Detection

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-10

flow cytometry, locked nucleic acid, sRNA, Vibrio , Date Published: 1/10/2012 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative...solubilization process to maintain a 10 mL volume. Aliquot the 60% dextran sulfate solution and store at -20 °C until use. 1. Harvest 1x108 cells of...bioluminescent Vibrio campbellii or your bacteria of interest and transfer them into a 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tube. This quantity of cells provides

Measuring sickle cell morphology in flow using spectrally encoded flow cytometry (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kviatkovsky, Inna; Zeidan, Adel; Yeheskely-Hayon, Daniella; Dann, Eldad J.; Yelin, Dvir

2017-02-01

During a sickle cell crisis in sickle cell anemia patients, deoxygenated red blood cells may change their mechanical properties and block small blood vessels, causing pain, local tissue damage and even organ failure. Measuring these cellular structural and morphological changes is important for understanding the factors contributing to vessel blockage and developing an effective treatment. In this work, we use spectrally encoded flow cytometry for confocal, high-resolution imaging of flowing blood cells from sickle cell anemia patients. A wide variety of cell morphologies were observed by analyzing the interference patterns resulting from reflections from the front and back faces of the cells' membrane. Using numerical simulation for calculating the two-dimensional reflection pattern from the cells, we propose an analytical expression for the three-dimensional shape of a characteristic sickle cell and compare it to a previous from the literature. In vitro spectrally encoded flow cytometry offers new means for analyzing the morphology of sickle cells in stress-free environment, and could provide an effective tool for studying the unique physiological properties of these cells.

Multiplexed and Microparticle-based Analyses: Quantitative Tools for the Large-Scale Analysis of Biological Systems

PubMed Central

Nolan, John P.; Mandy, Francis

2008-01-01

While the term flow cytometry refers to the measurement of cells, the approach of making sensitive multiparameter optical measurements in a flowing sample stream is a very general analytical approach. The past few years have seen an explosion in the application of flow cytometry technology for molecular analysis and measurements using micro-particles as solid supports. While microsphere-based molecular analyses using flow cytometry date back three decades, the need for highly parallel quantitative molecular measurements that has arisen from various genomic and proteomic advances has driven the development in particle encoding technology to enable highly multiplexed assays. Multiplexed particle-based immunoassays are now common place, and new assays to study genes, protein function, and molecular assembly. Numerous efforts are underway to extend the multiplexing capabilities of microparticle-based assays through new approaches to particle encoding and analyte reporting. The impact of these developments will be seen in the basic research and clinical laboratories, as well as in drug development. PMID:16604537

Evaluation of the platelet counting by Abbott CELL-DYN SAPPHIRE haematology analyser compared with flow cytometry.

PubMed

Grimaldi, E; Del Vecchio, L; Scopacasa, F; Lo Pardo, C; Capone, F; Pariante, S; Scalia, G; De Caterina, M

2009-04-01

The Abbot Cell-Dyn Sapphire is a new generation haematology analyser. The system uses optical/fluorescence flow cytometry in combination with electronic impedance to produce a full blood count. Optical and impedance are the default methods for platelet counting while automated CD61-immunoplatelet analysis can be run as selectable test. The aim of this study was to determine the platelet count performance of the three counting methods available on the instrument and to compare the results with those provided by Becton Dickinson FACSCalibur flow cytometer used as reference method. A lipid interference experiment was also performed. Linearity, carryover and precision were good, and satisfactory agreement with reference method was found for the impedance, optical and CD61-immunoplatelet analysis, although this latter provided the closest results in comparison with flow cytometry. In the lipid interference experiment, a moderate inaccuracy of optical and immunoplatelet counts was observed starting from a very high lipid value.

Abseq: Ultrahigh-throughput single cell protein profiling with droplet microfluidic barcoding.

PubMed

Shahi, Payam; Kim, Samuel C; Haliburton, John R; Gartner, Zev J; Abate, Adam R

2017-03-14

Proteins are the primary effectors of cellular function, including cellular metabolism, structural dynamics, and information processing. However, quantitative characterization of proteins at the single-cell level is challenging due to the tiny amount of protein available. Here, we present Abseq, a method to detect and quantitate proteins in single cells at ultrahigh throughput. Like flow and mass cytometry, Abseq uses specific antibodies to detect epitopes of interest; however, unlike these methods, antibodies are labeled with sequence tags that can be read out with microfluidic barcoding and DNA sequencing. We demonstrate this novel approach by characterizing surface proteins of different cell types at the single-cell level and distinguishing between the cells by their protein expression profiles. DNA-tagged antibodies provide multiple advantages for profiling proteins in single cells, including the ability to amplify low-abundance tags to make them detectable with sequencing, to use molecular indices for quantitative results, and essentially limitless multiplexing.

Abseq: Ultrahigh-throughput single cell protein profiling with droplet microfluidic barcoding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahi, Payam; Kim, Samuel C.; Haliburton, John R.; Gartner, Zev J.; Abate, Adam R.

2017-03-01

Proteins are the primary effectors of cellular function, including cellular metabolism, structural dynamics, and information processing. However, quantitative characterization of proteins at the single-cell level is challenging due to the tiny amount of protein available. Here, we present Abseq, a method to detect and quantitate proteins in single cells at ultrahigh throughput. Like flow and mass cytometry, Abseq uses specific antibodies to detect epitopes of interest; however, unlike these methods, antibodies are labeled with sequence tags that can be read out with microfluidic barcoding and DNA sequencing. We demonstrate this novel approach by characterizing surface proteins of different cell types at the single-cell level and distinguishing between the cells by their protein expression profiles. DNA-tagged antibodies provide multiple advantages for profiling proteins in single cells, including the ability to amplify low-abundance tags to make them detectable with sequencing, to use molecular indices for quantitative results, and essentially limitless multiplexing.

Abseq: Ultrahigh-throughput single cell protein profiling with droplet microfluidic barcoding

PubMed Central

Shahi, Payam; Kim, Samuel C.; Haliburton, John R.; Gartner, Zev J.; Abate, Adam R.

2017-01-01

Proteins are the primary effectors of cellular function, including cellular metabolism, structural dynamics, and information processing. However, quantitative characterization of proteins at the single-cell level is challenging due to the tiny amount of protein available. Here, we present Abseq, a method to detect and quantitate proteins in single cells at ultrahigh throughput. Like flow and mass cytometry, Abseq uses specific antibodies to detect epitopes of interest; however, unlike these methods, antibodies are labeled with sequence tags that can be read out with microfluidic barcoding and DNA sequencing. We demonstrate this novel approach by characterizing surface proteins of different cell types at the single-cell level and distinguishing between the cells by their protein expression profiles. DNA-tagged antibodies provide multiple advantages for profiling proteins in single cells, including the ability to amplify low-abundance tags to make them detectable with sequencing, to use molecular indices for quantitative results, and essentially limitless multiplexing. PMID:28290550

Design of point-of-care (POC) microfluidic medical diagnostic devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leary, James F.

2018-02-01

Design of inexpensive and portable hand-held microfluidic flow/image cytometry devices for initial medical diagnostics at the point of initial patient contact by emergency medical personnel in the field requires careful design in terms of power/weight requirements to allow for realistic portability as a hand-held, point-of-care medical diagnostics device. True portability also requires small micro-pumps for high-throughput capability. Weight/power requirements dictate use of super-bright LEDs and very small silicon photodiodes or nanophotonic sensors that can be powered by batteries. Signal-to-noise characteristics can be greatly improved by appropriately pulsing the LED excitation sources and sampling and subtracting noise in between excitation pulses. The requirements for basic computing, imaging, GPS and basic telecommunications can be simultaneously met by use of smartphone technologies, which become part of the overall device. Software for a user-interface system, limited real-time computing, real-time imaging, and offline data analysis can be accomplished through multi-platform software development systems that are well-suited to a variety of currently available cellphone technologies which already contain all of these capabilities. Microfluidic cytometry requires judicious use of small sample volumes and appropriate statistical sampling by microfluidic cytometry or imaging for adequate statistical significance to permit real-time (typically < 15 minutes) medical decisions for patients at the physician's office or real-time decision making in the field. One or two drops of blood obtained by pin-prick should be able to provide statistically meaningful results for use in making real-time medical decisions without the need for blood fractionation, which is not realistic in the field.

Multispectral Imaging Broadens Cellular Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2007-01-01

Amnis Corporation, a Seattle-based biotechnology company, developed ImageStream to produce sensitive fluorescence images of cells in flow. The company responded to an SBIR solicitation from Ames Research Center, and proposed to evaluate several methods of extending the depth of field for its ImageStream system and implement the best as an upgrade to its commercial products. This would allow users to view whole cells at the same time, rather than just one section of each cell. Through Phase I and II SBIR contracts, Ames provided Amnis the funding the company needed to develop this extended functionality. For NASA, the resulting high-speed image flow cytometry process made its way into Medusa, a life-detection instrument built to collect, store, and analyze sample organisms from erupting hydrothermal vents, and has the potential to benefit space flight health monitoring. On the commercial end, Amnis has implemented the process in ImageStream, combining high-resolution microscopy and flow cytometry in a single instrument, giving researchers the power to conduct quantitative analyses of individual cells and cell populations at the same time, in the same experiment. ImageStream is also built for many other applications, including cell signaling and pathway analysis; classification and characterization of peripheral blood mononuclear cell populations; quantitative morphology; apoptosis (cell death) assays; gene expression analysis; analysis of cell conjugates; molecular distribution; and receptor mapping and distribution.

Handling, storage, and preparation of human tissues.

PubMed

Dressler, L G; Visscher, D

2001-05-01

Human tissue for flow cytometry must be prepared as an adequate single-cell suspension. The appropriate methods for tissue collection, transport, storage, and dissociation depend on the cell parameters being measured and the localization of the markers. This unit includes a general method for collecting and transporting human tissue and preparing a tissue imprint. Protocols are supplied for tissue disaggregation by either mechanical or enzymatic means and for preparation of single-cell suspensions of whole cells from fine-needle aspirates, pleural effusions, abdominal fluids, or other body fluids. Other protocols detail preparation of intact nuclei from fresh, frozen, or paraffin-embedded tissue. Support protocols cover fixation, cryospin preparation, cryopreservation, and removal of debris.

Single Cell Mass Cytometry for Analysis of Immune System Functional States

PubMed Central

Bjornson, Zach B.; Nolan, Garry P.; Fantl, Wendy J.

2013-01-01

Single cell mass cytometry facilitates high-dimensional, quantitative analysis of the effects of bioactive molecules on cell populations at single-cell resolution. Datasets are generated with antibody panels (upwards of 40) in which each antibody is conjugated to a polymer chelated with a stable metal isotope, usually in the Lanthanide series of the periodic table. Isotope labelled antibodies recognize surface markers to delineate cell types and intracellular signaling molecules to provide a measure of the network state—and thereby demarcating multiple cell state functions such as apoptosis, DNA damage and cell cycle. By measuring all these parameters simultaneously, the signaling state of an individual cell can be measured at its network state. This review will cover the basics of mass cytometry as well as outline steps already taken to allow it to stand aside traditional fluorescence based cytometry in the immunologist’s analytical arsenal in their study of immune states during infection. PMID:23999316

An inter-laboratory comparison of PNH clone detection by high-sensitivity flow cytometry in a Russian cohort.

PubMed

Sipol, Alexandra A; Babenko, Elena V; Borisov, Vyacheslav I; Naumova, Elena V; Boyakova, Elena V; Yakunin, Dimitry I; Glazanova, Tatyana V; Chubukina, Zhanna V; Pronkina, Natalya V; Popov, Alexander M; Saveliev, Leonid I; Lugovskaya, Svetlana A; Lisukov, Igor A; Kulagin, Alexander D; Illingworth, Andrea J

2015-01-01

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is an acquired clonal stem cell disorder characterized by partial or absolute deficiency of glycophosphatidyl-inositol (GPI) anchor-linked surface proteins on blood cells. A lack of precise diagnostic standards for flow cytometry has hampered useful comparisons of data between laboratories. We report data from the first study evaluating the reproducibility of high-sensitivity flow cytometry for PNH in Russia. PNH clone sizes were determined at diagnosis in PNH patients at a central laboratory and compared with follow-up measurements in six laboratories across the country. Analyses in each laboratory were performed according to recommendations from the International Clinical Cytometry Society (ICCS) and the more recent 'practical guidelines'. Follow-up measurements were compared with each other and with the values determined at diagnosis. PNH clone size measurements were determined in seven diagnosed PNH patients (five females, two males: mean age 37 years); five had a history of aplastic anemia and three (one with and two without aplastic anemia) had severe hemolytic PNH and elevated plasma lactate dehydrogenase. PNH clone sizes at diagnosis were low in patients with less severe clinical symptoms (0.41-9.7% of granulocytes) and high in patients with severe symptoms (58-99%). There were only minimal differences in the follow-up clone size measurement for each patient between the six laboratories, particularly in those with high values at diagnosis. The ICCS-recommended high-sensitivity flow cytometry protocol was effective for detecting major and minor PNH clones in Russian PNH patients, and showed high reproducibility between laboratories.

Development of an unbiased, semi-automated approach for classifying plasma cell immunophenotype following multicolor flow cytometry of bone marrow aspirates.

PubMed

Post, Steven R; Post, Ginell R; Nikolic, Dejan; Owens, Rebecca; Insuasti-Beltran, Giovanni

2018-03-24

Despite increased usage of multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) to assess diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic efficacy (minimal residual disease, MRD) in plasma cell neoplasms (PCNs), standardization of methodology and data analysis is suboptimal. We investigated the utility of using the mean and median fluorescence intensities (FI) obtained from MFC to objectively describe parameters that distinguish plasma cell (PC) phenotypes. In this retrospective study, flow cytometry results from bone marrow aspirate specimens from 570 patients referred to the Myeloma Institute at UAMS were evaluated. Mean and median FI data were obtained from 8-color MFC of non-neoplastic, malignant, and mixed PC populations using antibodies to CD38, CD138, CD19, CD20, CD27, CD45, CD56, and CD81. Of 570 cases, 252 cases showed only non-neoplastic PCs, 168 showed only malignant PCs, and 150 showed mixed PC populations. Statistical analysis of median FI data for each CD marker showed no difference in expression intensity on non-neoplastic and malignant PCs, between pure and mixed PC populations. ROC analysis of the median FI of CD expression in non-neoplastic and malignant PCs was used to develop an algorithm to convert quantitative FI values to qualitative assessments including "negative," "positive," "dim," and "heterogeneous" expression. FI data derived from 8-color MFC can be used to define marker expression on PCs. Translation of FI data from Infinicyt software to an Excel worksheet streamlines workflow and eliminates transcriptional errors when generating flow reports. © 2018 International Clinical Cytometry Society. © 2018 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

One-step synthesis of pyridines and dihydropyridines in a continuous flow microwave reactor

PubMed Central

Fusillo, Vincenzo; Jenkins, Robert L; Lubinu, M Caterina; Mason, Christopher

2013-01-01

Summary The Bohlmann–Rahtz pyridine synthesis and the Hantzsch dihydropyridine synthesis can be carried out in a microwave flow reactor or using a conductive heating flow platform for the continuous processing of material. In the Bohlmann–Rahtz reaction, the use of a Brønsted acid catalyst allows Michael addition and cyclodehydration to be carried out in a single step without isolation of intermediates to give the corresponding trisubstituted pyridine as a single regioisomer in good yield. Furthermore, 3-substituted propargyl aldehydes undergo Hantzsch dihydropyridine synthesis in preference to Bohlmann–Rahtz reaction in a very high yielding process that is readily transferred to continuous flow processing. PMID:24204407

Energy and Technology Review

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Poggio, A.J.; Mayall, B.H.

1989-04-01

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is an acknowledged world center for analytical cytology. This leadership was recognized by the Regents of the University of California (UC), who in 1982 established and funded the Program for Analytical Cytology to facilitate the transfer of this technology from scientists at LLNL to their University colleagues, primarily through innovative collaborative research. This issue of Energy and Technology Review describes three of the forty projects that have been funded in this way; chosen to illustrate the potential medical application of the research. Analytical cytology is a relatively new field of biomedical research that ismore » increasingly being applied in clinical medicine. It has been particularly important in unraveling the complexities of the human immune system and in quantifying the pathobiology of malignancy. Defined as the characterization and measurement of cells and cellular constituents for biological and medical purposes, analytical cytology bridges the gap between the quantitative discipline of molecular biology and the more qualitative disciplines of anatomy and pathology. It is itself multidisciplinary in nature. Two major approaches to analytical cytology are flow cytometry and image cytometry. In each of these research techniques, cells are measured one at a time in an automated device. In flow instruments, the cells are dispersed in fluid suspension and pass in single file through a beam of laser light to generate optical signals that are measured. In image cytometry, cells are dispersed on a slide and are imaged through a microscope onto an electronic imaging and analysis system that processes the cell image to extract measurements of interest.« less

Assessing FRET using spectral techniques.

PubMed

Leavesley, Silas J; Britain, Andrea L; Cichon, Lauren K; Nikolaev, Viacheslav O; Rich, Thomas C

2013-10-01

Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) techniques have proven invaluable for probing the complex nature of protein-protein interactions, protein folding, and intracellular signaling events. These techniques have traditionally been implemented with the use of one or more fluorescence band-pass filters, either as fluorescence microscopy filter cubes, or as dichroic mirrors and band-pass filters in flow cytometry. In addition, new approaches for measuring FRET, such as fluorescence lifetime and acceptor photobleaching, have been developed. Hyperspectral techniques for imaging and flow cytometry have also shown to be promising for performing FRET measurements. In this study, we have compared traditional (filter-based) FRET approaches to three spectral-based approaches: the ratio of acceptor-to-donor peak emission, linear spectral unmixing, and linear spectral unmixing with a correction for direct acceptor excitation. All methods are estimates of FRET efficiency, except for one-filter set and three-filter set FRET indices, which are included for consistency with prior literature. In the first part of this study, spectrofluorimetric data were collected from a CFP-Epac-YFP FRET probe that has been used for intracellular cAMP measurements. All comparisons were performed using the same spectrofluorimetric datasets as input data, to provide a relevant comparison. Linear spectral unmixing resulted in measurements with the lowest coefficient of variation (0.10) as well as accurate fits using the Hill equation. FRET efficiency methods produced coefficients of variation of less than 0.20, while FRET indices produced coefficients of variation greater than 8.00. These results demonstrate that spectral FRET measurements provide improved response over standard, filter-based measurements. Using spectral approaches, single-cell measurements were conducted through hyperspectral confocal microscopy, linear unmixing, and cell segmentation with quantitative image analysis. Results from these studies confirmed that spectral imaging is effective for measuring subcellular, time-dependent FRET dynamics and that additional fluorescent signals can be readily separated from FRET signals, enabling multilabel studies of molecular interactions. © 2013 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.

Screening of carcinoma metastasis by flow cytometry: A study of 238 cases.

PubMed

Acosta, Maria; Pereira, José; Arroz, Maria

2016-05-01

Malignant epithelial cells may be detected in different specimens, by immunophenotyping using flow cytometry (FCM). CD326 (epithelial-specific antigen, clone Ber-Ep4) was used to identify epithelial cells, CD45 to discriminate between leucocytes (positive for this antigen) and non-hematological cells (negative for this antigen), and CD33 to identify monocytes/macrophages. This combination is particularly useful in effusions to characterize large cells and distinguish between monocyte/macrophages (CD45+ CD33+ CD326-), mesothelial cells (CD45 ± (dim) CD33 - CD326-) and epithelial cells (CD45 - CD33 - CD326 +). We evaluated the efficiency of flow cytometry to detect malignant epithelial cells in 238 fresh samples, including effusions, lymph node biopsies, fine needle aspirates, bone marrow aspirates, cerebrospinal fluid, among others. These are specimens expected to lack epithelial cells. FCM results were then compared to the results of smear and cell block morphology, as well as immunocytochemistry on paraffin wax embedded cell blocks, when available. Final diagnosis was the gold standard and a very good sensitivity (96.7%) and specificity (99.3%) were obtained. We concluded that the detection of CD326 positive cells using FCM is strongly indicative of the presence of carcinoma cells. © 2015 International Clinical Cytometry Society. © 2015 International Clinical Cytometry Society.

Fluorescent supramolecular micelles for imaging-guided cancer therapy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Mengmeng; Yin, Wenyan; Dong, Xinghua; Yang, Wantai; Zhao, Yuliang; Yin, Meizhen

2016-02-01

A novel smart fluorescent drug delivery system composed of a perylene diimide (PDI) core and block copolymer poly(d,l-lactide)-b-poly(ethyl ethylene phosphate) is developed and named as PDI-star-(PLA-b-PEEP)8. The biodegradable PDI-star-(PLA-b-PEEP)8 is a unimolecular micelle and can self-assemble into supramolecular micelles, called as fluorescent supramolecular micelles (FSMs), in aqueous media. An insoluble drug camptothecin (CPT) can be effectively loaded into the FSMs and exhibits pH-responsive release. Moreover, the FSMs with good biocompatibility can also be employed as a remarkable fluorescent probe for cell labelling because the maximum emission of PDI is beneficial for bio-imaging. The flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis demonstrate that the micelles are easily endocytosed by cancer cells. In vitro and in vivo tumor growth-inhibitory studies reveal a better therapeutic effect of FSMs after CPT encapsulation when compared with the free CPT drug. The multifunctional FSM nanomedicine platform as a nanovehicle has great potential for fluorescence imaging-guided cancer therapy.A novel smart fluorescent drug delivery system composed of a perylene diimide (PDI) core and block copolymer poly(d,l-lactide)-b-poly(ethyl ethylene phosphate) is developed and named as PDI-star-(PLA-b-PEEP)8. The biodegradable PDI-star-(PLA-b-PEEP)8 is a unimolecular micelle and can self-assemble into supramolecular micelles, called as fluorescent supramolecular micelles (FSMs), in aqueous media. An insoluble drug camptothecin (CPT) can be effectively loaded into the FSMs and exhibits pH-responsive release. Moreover, the FSMs with good biocompatibility can also be employed as a remarkable fluorescent probe for cell labelling because the maximum emission of PDI is beneficial for bio-imaging. The flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy analysis demonstrate that the micelles are easily endocytosed by cancer cells. In vitro and in vivo tumor growth-inhibitory studies reveal a better therapeutic effect of FSMs after CPT encapsulation when compared with the free CPT drug. The multifunctional FSM nanomedicine platform as a nanovehicle has great potential for fluorescence imaging-guided cancer therapy. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6nr00450d

MHC class II/ESO tetramer-based generation of in vitro primed anti-tumor T-helper lines for adoptive cell therapy of cancer.

PubMed

Poli, Caroline; Raffin, Caroline; Dojcinovic, Danijel; Luescher, Immanuel; Ayyoub, Maha; Valmori, Danila

2013-02-01

Generation of tumor-antigen specific CD4(+) T-helper (T(H)) lines through in vitro priming is of interest for adoptive cell therapy of cancer, but the development of this approach has been limited by the lack of appropriate tools to identify and isolate low frequency tumor antigen-specific CD4(+) T cells. Here, we have used recently developed MHC class II/peptide tetramers incorporating an immunodominant peptide from NY-ESO-1 (ESO), a tumor antigen frequently expressed in different human solid and hematologic cancers, to implement an in vitro priming platform allowing the generation of ESO-specific T(H) lines. We isolated phenotypically defined CD4(+) T-cell subpopulations from circulating lymphocytes of DR52b(+) healthy donors by flow cytometry cell sorting and stimulated them in vitro with peptide ESO(119-143), autologous APC and IL-2. We assessed the frequency of ESO-specific cells in the cultures by staining with DR52b/ESO(119-143) tetramers (ESO-tetramers) and TCR repertoire of ESO-tetramer(+) cells by co-staining with TCR variable β chain (BV) specific antibodies. We isolated ESO-tetramer(+) cells by flow cytometry cell sorting and expanded them with PHA, APC and IL-2 to generate ESO-specific T(H) lines. We characterized the lines for antigen recognition, by stimulation with ESO peptide or recombinant protein, cytokine production, by intracellular staining using specific antibodies, and alloreactivity, by stimulation with allo-APC. Using this approach, we could consistently generate ESO-tetramer(+) T(H) lines from conventional CD4(+)CD25(-) naïve and central memory populations, but not from effector memory populations or CD4(+)CD25(+) Treg. In vitro primed T(H) lines recognized ESO with affinities comparable to ESO-tetramer(+) cells from patients immunized with an ESO vaccine and used a similar TCR repertoire. In this study, using MHC class II/ESO tetramers, we have implemented an in vitro priming platform allowing the generation of ESO-monospecific polyclonal T(H) lines from non-immune individuals. This is an approach that is of potential interest for adoptive cell therapy of patients bearing ESO-expressing cancers.

Isomorphic red blood cells using automated urine flow cytometry is a reliable method in diagnosis of bladder cancer.

PubMed

Muto, Satoru; Sugiura, Syo-Ichiro; Nakajima, Akiko; Horiuchi, Akira; Inoue, Masahiro; Saito, Keisuke; Isotani, Shuji; Yamaguchi, Raizo; Ide, Hisamitsu; Horie, Shigeo

2014-10-01

We aimed to identify patients with a chief complaint of hematuria who could safely avoid unnecessary radiation and instrumentation in the diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC), using automated urine flow cytometry to detect isomorphic red blood cells (RBCs) in urine. We acquired urine samples from 134 patients over the age of 35 years with a chief complaint of hematuria and a positive urine occult blood test or microhematuria. The data were analyzed using the UF-1000i (®) (Sysmex Co., Ltd., Kobe, Japan) automated urine flow cytometer to determine RBC morphology, which was classified as isomorphic or dysmorphic. The patients were divided into two groups (BC versus non-BC) for statistical analysis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictive value of flow cytometry versus urine cytology, the bladder tumor antigen test, occult blood in urine test, and microhematuria test. BC was confirmed in 26 of 134 patients (19.4 %). The area under the curve for RBC count using the automated urine flow cytometer was 0.94, representing the highest reference value obtained in this study. Isomorphic RBCs were detected in all patients in the BC group. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, only isomorphic RBC morphology was significantly predictive for BC (p < 0.001). Analytical parameters such as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of isomorphic RBCs in urine were 100.0, 91.7, 74.3, and 100.0 %, respectively. Detection of urinary isomorphic RBCs using automated urine flow cytometry is a reliable method in the diagnosis of BC with hematuria.

Development of Antibodies Against Novel Cell Surface Proteins In Hormone Refractory Prostate Cancer. Addendum

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

marker of hormone refractory metastatic prostate cancer. Clin Cancer Res, 2005. 15: 2237- 43 . 3. Tomita K, van Bokhoven A, van Leenders GJ, Ruijter...Santa Cruz Biotechnology), vimentin, Ki-67 (DakoCytomation) and caspase-3 (Cell Signaling Technology). Flow cytometry was performed with N...transduced cells were labeled with N-cadherin–specific antibody and sorted by flow cytometry , gating for a GFP-positive, N-cadherinlow population. The

Label-free in vivo flow cytometry in zebrafish using two-photon autofluorescence imaging.

PubMed

Zeng, Yan; Xu, Jin; Li, Dong; Li, Li; Wen, Zilong; Qu, Jianan Y

2012-07-01

We demonstrate a label-free in vivo flow cytometry in zebrafish blood vessels based on two-photon excited autofluorescence imaging. The major discovery in this work is the strong autofluorescence emission from the plasma in zebrafish blood. The plasma autofluorescence provides excellent contrast for visualizing blood vessels and counting blood cells. In addition, the cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide autofluorescence enables in vivo imaging and counting of white blood cells (neutrophils).

Flow Cytometry Techniques in Radiation Biology

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-06-01

Henidtopoietic stem cells SUMMARY Hematopoietic stem cells ( HSC ) are present in the marrow at a concentration of approximately 2-3 HSC per 1000 nucleated marrow...cells. In the past, only clonogenic assays requiring 8-13 days and ten irradiated recipient rodents were available for assaying HSC . Because of the...importance of HSC in the postirradiation syndrome, we have developed a new rapid method based on flow cytometry not only to assay but also to purify and

Flow cytometry on the stromal-vascular fraction of white adipose tissue.

PubMed

Brake, Danett K; Smith, C Wayne

2008-01-01

Adipose tissue contains cell types other than adipocytes that may contribute to complications linked to obesity. For example, macrophages have been shown to infiltrate adipose tissue in response to a high-fat diet. Isolation of the stromal-vascular fraction of adipose tissue allows one to use flow cytometry to analyze cell surface markers on leukocytes. Here, we present a technical approach to identify subsets of leukocytes that differentially express cell surface markers.

Screening of Compounds Toxicity against Human Monocytic cell line-THP-1 by Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Pick, Neora; Cameron, Scott; Arad, Dorit

2004-01-01

The worldwide rapid increase in bacterial resistance to numerous antibiotics requires on-going development of new drugs to enter the market. As the development of new antibiotics is lengthy and costly, early monitoring of compound's toxicity is essential in the development of novel agents. Our interest is in a rapid, simple, high throughput screening method to assess cytotoxicity induced by potential agents. Some intracellular pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis primary site of infection is human alveolar macrophages. Thus, evaluation of candidate drugs for macrophage toxicity is crucial. Protocols for high throughput drug toxicity screening of macrophages using flow cytometry are lacking in the literature. For this application we modified a preexisting technique, propidium iodide (PI) exclusion staining and utilized it for rapid toxicity tests. Samples were prepared in 96 well plates and analyzed by flow cytometry, which allowed for rapid, inexpensive and precise assessment of compound's toxicity associated with cell death. PMID:15472722

Tracking by flow cytometry antigen-specific follicular helper T cells in wild-type animals after protein vaccination.

PubMed

Chakarov, Svetoslav; Fazilleau, Nicolas

2015-01-01

Flow cytometry is a valuable technology used in immunology to characterize and enumerate the different cell subpopulations specific for a nonself-antigen in the context of an ongoing immune response. Among them, follicular helper T cells are the cognate regulators of B cells in secondary lymphoid tissues. Thus, tracking them is of high interest especially in the context of protein vaccination. For this purpose, transgenic antigen-receptor mouse models have been largely used. It is now clear that transgenic models are not always the best means to study the dynamics of the immune response since they can modify the response. In this chapter, we describe how to track endogenous antigen-specific follicular helper T cells by flow cytometry after protein vaccination in nonmodified wild-type animals, which ultimately provides a comprehensive way to enumerate, characterize, and isolate these particular cells in vivo.

A simple and efficient method for poly-3-hydroxybutyrate quantification in diazotrophic bacteria within 5 minutes using flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Alves, L.P.S.; Almeida, A.T.; Cruz, L.M.; Pedrosa, F.O.; de Souza, E.M.; Chubatsu, L.S.; Müller-Santos, M.; Valdameri, G.

2017-01-01

The conventional method for quantification of polyhydroxyalkanoates based on whole-cell methanolysis and gas chromatography (GC) is laborious and time-consuming. In this work, a method based on flow cytometry of Nile red stained bacterial cells was established to quantify poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) production by the diazotrophic and plant-associated bacteria, Herbaspirillum seropedicae and Azospirillum brasilense. The method consists of three steps: i) cell permeabilization, ii) Nile red staining, and iii) analysis by flow cytometry. The method was optimized step-by-step and can be carried out in less than 5 min. The final results indicated a high correlation coefficient (R2=0.99) compared to a standard method based on methanolysis and GC. This method was successfully applied to the quantification of PHB in epiphytic bacteria isolated from rice roots. PMID:28099582

Single Cell and Population Level Analysis of HCA Data.

PubMed

Novo, David; Ghosh, Kaya; Burke, Sean

2018-01-01

High Content Analysis instrumentation has undergone tremendous hardware advances in recent years. It is now possible to obtain images of hundreds of thousands to millions of individual objects, across multiple wells, channels, and plates, in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, it is possible to extract dozens, or hundreds, of features per object using commonly available software tools. Analyzing this data provides new challenges to the scientists. The magnitude of these numbers is reminiscent of flow cytometer, where practitioners have long been taking what effectively amounted to very low resolution, multi-parametric measurements from individual cells for many decades. Flow cytometrists have developed a wide range of tools to effectively analyze and interpret these types of data. This chapter will review the techniques used in flow cytometry and show how they can easily and effectively be applied to High Content Analysis.

Hydrogel Droplet Microfluidics for High-Throughput Single Molecule/Cell Analysis.

PubMed

Zhu, Zhi; Yang, Chaoyong James

2017-01-17

Heterogeneity among individual molecules and cells has posed significant challenges to traditional bulk assays, due to the assumption of average behavior, which would lose important biological information in heterogeneity and result in a misleading interpretation. Single molecule/cell analysis has become an important and emerging field in biological and biomedical research for insights into heterogeneity between large populations at high resolution. Compared with the ensemble bulk method, single molecule/cell analysis explores the information on time trajectories, conformational states, and interactions of individual molecules/cells, all key factors in the study of chemical and biological reaction pathways. Various powerful techniques have been developed for single molecule/cell analysis, including flow cytometry, atomic force microscopy, optical and magnetic tweezers, single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, and so forth. However, some of them have the low-throughput issue that has to analyze single molecules/cells one by one. Flow cytometry is a widely used high-throughput technique for single cell analysis but lacks the ability for intercellular interaction study and local environment control. Droplet microfluidics becomes attractive for single molecule/cell manipulation because single molecules/cells can be individually encased in monodisperse microdroplets, allowing high-throughput analysis and manipulation with precise control of the local environment. Moreover, hydrogels, cross-linked polymer networks that swell in the presence of water, have been introduced into droplet microfluidic systems as hydrogel droplet microfluidics. By replacing an aqueous phase with a monomer or polymer solution, hydrogel droplets can be generated on microfluidic chips for encapsulation of single molecules/cells according to the Poisson distribution. The sol-gel transition property endows the hydrogel droplets with new functionalities and diversified applications in single molecule/cell analysis. The hydrogel can act as a 3D cell culture matrix to mimic the extracellular environment for long-term single cell culture, which allows further heterogeneity study in proliferation, drug screening, and metastasis at the single-cell level. The sol-gel transition allows reactions in solution to be performed rapidly and efficiently with product storage in the gel for flexible downstream manipulation and analysis. More importantly, controllable sol-gel regulation provides a new way to maintain phenotype-genotype linkages in the hydrogel matrix for high throughput molecular evolution. In this Account, we will review the hydrogel droplet generation on microfluidics, single molecule/cell encapsulation in hydrogel droplets, as well as the progress made by our group and others in the application of hydrogel droplet microfluidics for single molecule/cell analysis, including single cell culture, single molecule/cell detection, single cell sequencing, and molecular evolution.

Laboratory Tests of Multiplex Detection of PCR Amplicons Using the Luminex 100 Flow Analyzer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Venkateswaran, K.S.; Nasarabadi, S.; Langlois, R.G.

2000-05-05

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) demonstrated the power of flow cytometry in detecting the biological agents simulants at JFT III. LLNL pioneered in the development of advanced nucleic acid analyzer (ANM) for portable real time identification. Recent advances in flow cytometry provide a means for multiplexed nucleic acid detection and immunoassay of pathogenic microorganisms. We are presently developing multiplexed immunoassays for the simultaneous detection of different simulants. Our goal is to build an integrated instrument for both nucleic acid analysis and immuno detection. In this study we evaluated the Luminex LX 100 for concurrent identification of more than one PCRmore » amplified product. ANAA has real-time Taqman fluorescent detection capability for rapid identification of field samples. However, its multiplexing ability is limited by the combination of available fluorescent labels. Hence integration of ANAA with flow cytometry can give the rapidity of ANAA amplification and the multiplex capability of flow cytometry. Multiplexed flow cytometric analysis is made possible using a set of fluorescent latex microsphere that are individually identified by their red and infrared fluorescence. A green fluorochrome is used as the assay signal. Methods were developed for the identification of specific nucleic acid sequences from Bacillus globigii (Bg), Bacillus thuringensis (Bt) and Erwinia herbicola (Eh). Detection sensitivity using different reporter fluorochromes was tested with the LX 100, and also different assay formats were evaluated for their suitability for rapid testing. A blind laboratory trial was carried out December 22-27, 1999 to evaluate bead assays for multiplex identification of Bg and Bt PCR products. This report summarizes the assay development, fluorochrome comparisons, and the results of the blind trial conducted at LLNL for the laboratory evaluation of the LX 100 flow analyzer.« less

Advances in small animal mesentery models for in vivo flow cytometry, dynamic microscopy, and drug screening

PubMed Central

Galanzha, Ekaterina I; Tuchin, Valery V; Zharov, Vladimir P

2007-01-01

Using animal mesentery with intravital optical microscopy is a well-established experimental model for studying blood and lymph microcirculation in vivo. Recent advances in cell biology and optical techniques provide the basis for extending this model for new applications, which should generate significantly improved experimental data. This review summarizes the achievements in this specific area, including in vivo label-free blood and lymph photothermal flow cytometry, super-sensitive fluorescence image cytometry, light scattering and speckle flow cytometry, microvessel dynamic microscopy, infrared (IR) angiography, and high-speed imaging of individual cells in fast flow. The capabilities of these techniques, using the rat mesentery model, were demonstrated in various studies; e.g., real-time quantitative detection of circulating and migrating individual blood and cancer cells, studies on vascular dynamics with a focus on lymphatics under normal conditions and under different interventions (e.g. lasers, drugs, nicotine), assessment of lymphatic disturbances from experimental lymphedema, monitoring cell traffic between blood and lymph systems, and high-speed imaging of cell transient deformability in flow. In particular, the obtained results demonstrated that individual cell transportation in living organisms depends on cell type (e.g., normal blood or leukemic cells), the cell’s functional state (e.g., live, apoptotic, or necrotic), and the functional status of the organism. Possible future applications, including in vivo early diagnosis and prevention of disease, monitoring immune response and apoptosis, chemo- and radio-sensitivity tests, and drug screening, are also discussed. PMID:17226898

Quantitative Detection of Low-Abundance Transcripts at Single-Cell Level in Human Epidermal Keratinocytes by Digital Droplet Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction.

PubMed

Auvré, Frédéric; Coutier, Julien; Martin, Michèle T; Fortunel, Nicolas O

2018-05-08

Genetic and epigenetic characterization of the large cellular diversity observed within tissues is essential to understanding the molecular networks that ensure the regulation of homeostasis, repair, and regeneration, but also pathophysiological processes. Skin is composed of multiple cell lineages and is therefore fully concerned by this complexity. Even within one particular lineage, such as epidermal keratinocytes, different immaturity statuses or differentiation stages are represented, which are still incompletely characterized. Accordingly, there is presently great demand for methods and technologies enabling molecular investigation at single-cell level. Also, most current methods used to analyze gene expression at RNA level, such as RT-qPCR, do not directly provide quantitative data, but rather comparative ratios between two conditions. A second important need in skin biology is thus to determine the number of RNA molecules in a given cell sample. Here, we describe a workflow that we have set up to meet these specific needs, by means of transcript quantification in cellular micro-samples using flow cytometry sorting and reverse transcription-digital droplet polymerase chain reaction. As a proof-of-principle, the workflow was tested for the detection of transcription factor transcripts expressed at low levels in keratinocyte precursor cells. A linear correlation was found between quantification values and keratinocyte input numbers in a low quantity range from 40 cells to 1 cell. Interpretable signals were repeatedly obtained from single-cell samples corresponding to estimated expression levels as low as 10-20 transcript copies per keratinocyte or less. The present workflow may have broad applications for the detection and quantification of low-abundance nucleic acid species in single cells, opening up perspectives for the study of cell-to-cell genetic and molecular heterogeneity. Interestingly, the process described here does not require internal references such as house-keeping gene expression, as it is initiated with defined cell numbers, precisely sorted by flow cytometry.

A Systems Approach towards an Intelligent and Self-Controlling Platform for Integrated Continuous Reaction Sequences**

PubMed Central

Ingham, Richard J; Battilocchio, Claudio; Fitzpatrick, Daniel E; Sliwinski, Eric; Hawkins, Joel M; Ley, Steven V

2015-01-01

Performing reactions in flow can offer major advantages over batch methods. However, laboratory flow chemistry processes are currently often limited to single steps or short sequences due to the complexity involved with operating a multi-step process. Using new modular components for downstream processing, coupled with control technologies, more advanced multi-step flow sequences can be realized. These tools are applied to the synthesis of 2-aminoadamantane-2-carboxylic acid. A system comprising three chemistry steps and three workup steps was developed, having sufficient autonomy and self-regulation to be managed by a single operator. PMID:25377747

Hybrid Imaging Labels: Providing the Link Between Mass Spectrometry-Based Molecular Pathology and Theranostics

PubMed Central

Buckle, Tessa; van der Wal, Steffen; van Malderen, Stijn J.M.; Müller, Larissa; Kuil, Joeri; van Unen, Vincent; Peters, Ruud J.B.; van Bemmel, Margaretha E.M.; McDonnell, Liam A.; Velders, Aldrik H.; Koning, Frits; Vanhaeke, Frank; van Leeuwen, Fijs W. B.

2017-01-01

Background: Development of theranostic concepts that include inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) imaging can be hindered by the lack of a direct comparison to more standardly used methods for in vitro and in vivo evaluation; e.g. fluorescence or nuclear medicine. In this study a bimodal (or rather, hybrid) tracer that contains both a fluorescent dye and a chelate was used to evaluate the existence of a direct link between mass spectrometry (MS) and in vitro and in vivo molecular imaging findings using fluorescence and radioisotopes. At the same time, the hybrid label was used to determine whether the use of a single isotope label would allow for MS-based diagnostics. Methods: A hybrid label that contained both a DTPA chelate (that was coordinated with either 165Ho or 111In) and a Cy5 fluorescent dye was coupled to the chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) targeting peptide Ac-TZ14011 (hybrid-Cy5-Ac-TZ4011). This receptor targeting tracer was used to 1) validate the efficacy of (165Ho-based) mass-cytometry in determining the receptor affinity via comparison with fluorescence-based flow cytometry (Cy5), 2) evaluate the microscopic binding pattern of the tracer in tumor cells using both fluorescence confocal imaging (Cy5) and LA-ICP-MS-imaging (165Ho), 3) compare in vivo biodistribution patterns obtained with ICP-MS (165Ho) and radiodetection (111In) after intravenous administration of hybrid-Cy5-Ac-TZ4011 in tumor-bearing mice. Finally, LA-ICP-MS-imaging (165Ho) was linked to fluorescence-based analysis of excised tissue samples (Cy5). Results: Analysis with both mass-cytometry and flow cytometry revealed a similar receptor affinity, respectively 352 ± 141 nM and 245 ± 65 nM (p = 0.08), but with a much lower detection sensitivity for the first modality. In vitro LA-ICP-MS imaging (165Ho) enabled clear discrimination between CXCR4 positive and negative cells, but fluorescence microscopy was required to determine the intracellular distribution. In vivo biodistribution patterns obtained with ICP-MS (165Ho) and radiodetection (111In) of the hybrid peptide were shown to be similar. Assessment of tracer distribution in excised tissues revealed the location of tracer uptake with both LA-ICP-MS-imaging and fluorescence imaging. Conclusion: Lanthanide-isotope chelation expands the scope of fluorescent/radioactive hybrid tracers to include MS-based analytical tools such as mass-cytometry, ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS imaging in molecular pathology. In contradiction to common expectations, MS detection using a single chelate imaging agent was shown to be feasible, enabling a direct link between nuclear medicine-based imaging and theranostic methods. PMID:28255355

Tracking protein aggregation and mislocalization in cells with flow cytometry.

PubMed

Ramdzan, Yasmin M; Polling, Saskia; Chia, Cheryl P Z; Ng, Ivan H W; Ormsby, Angelique R; Croft, Nathan P; Purcell, Anthony W; Bogoyevitch, Marie A; Ng, Dominic C H; Gleeson, Paul A; Hatters, Danny M

2012-03-18

We applied pulse-shape analysis (PulSA) to monitor protein localization changes in mammalian cells by flow cytometry. PulSA enabled high-throughput tracking of protein aggregation, translocation from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and trafficking from the plasma membrane to the Golgi as well as stress-granule formation. Combining PulSA with tetracysteine-based oligomer sensors in a cell model of Huntington's disease enabled further separation of cells enriched with monomers, oligomers and inclusion bodies.

A Stem Cell-Seeded Nanofibrous Scaffold for Auditory Nerve Replacement

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-10-01

the brightest GFP+ cells by flow cytometry and compared these with GFP- cells (Figure 1A-C). The transfected cells showed robust GFP expression even...al., 2011), but no normative data were provided on SGN loss by cochlear turn and, in contrast to our results, those authors reported no impact on...A) Flow cytometry analysis to identify GFP+ and GFP- cells. The large cluster of cells on the left represent the GFP- cells and exhibited similar

A comparison of methods to assess the antimicrobial activity of nanoparticle combinations on bacterial cells.

PubMed

Bankier, Claire; Cheong, Yuen; Mahalingam, Suntharavathanan; Edirisinghe, Mohan; Ren, Guogang; Cloutman-Green, Elaine; Ciric, Lena

2018-01-01

Bacterial cell quantification after exposure to antimicrobial compounds varies widely throughout industry and healthcare. Numerous methods are employed to quantify these antimicrobial effects. With increasing demand for new preventative methods for disease control, we aimed to compare and assess common analytical methods used to determine antimicrobial effects of novel nanoparticle combinations on two different pathogens. Plate counts of total viable cells, flow cytometry (LIVE/DEAD BacLight viability assay) and qPCR (viability qPCR) were used to assess the antimicrobial activity of engineered nanoparticle combinations (NPCs) on Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria at different concentrations (0.05, 0.10 and 0.25 w/v%). Results were analysed using linear models to assess the effectiveness of different treatments. Strong antimicrobial effects of the three NPCs (AMNP0-2) on both pathogens could be quantified using the plate count method and flow cytometry. The plate count method showed a high log reduction (>8-log) for bacteria exposed to high NPC concentrations. We found similar antimicrobial results using the flow cytometry live/dead assay. Viability qPCR analysis of antimicrobial activity could not be quantified due to interference of NPCs with qPCR amplification. Flow cytometry was determined to be the best method to measure antimicrobial activity of the novel NPCs due to high-throughput, rapid and quantifiable results.

Monoclonal Antibody L1Mab-13 Detected Human PD-L1 in Lung Cancers.

PubMed

Yamada, Shinji; Itai, Shunsuke; Nakamura, Takuro; Yanaka, Miyuki; Chang, Yao-Wen; Suzuki, Hiroyoshi; Kaneko, Mika K; Kato, Yukinari

2018-04-01

Programmed cell death ligand-1 (PD-L1) is a type I transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on antigen-presenting cells. It is also expressed in several tumor cells such as melanoma and lung cancer cells. A strong correlation has been reported between human PD-L1 (hPD-L1) expression in tumor cells and negative prognosis in cancer patients. Here, a novel anti-hPD-L1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) L 1 Mab-13 (IgG 1 , kappa) was produced using a cell-based immunization and screening (CBIS) method. We investigated hPD-L1 expression in lung cancer using flow cytometry, Western blot, and immunohistochemical analyses. L 1 Mab-13 specifically reacted hPD-L1 of hPD-L1-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells and endogenous hPD-L1 of KMST-6 (human fibroblast) in flow cytometry and Western blot. Furthermore, L 1 Mab-13 reacted with lung cancer cell lines (EBC-1, Lu65, and Lu99) in flow cytometry and stained lung cancer tissues in a membrane-staining pattern in immunohistochemical analysis. These results indicate that a novel anti-hPD-L1 mAb, L 1 Mab-13, is very useful for detecting hPD-L1 of lung cancers in flow cytometry, Western blot, and immunohistochemical analyses.

Impaired coordination between signaling pathways is revealed in human colorectal cancer using single-cell mass cytometry of archival tissue blocks

PubMed Central

Simmons, Alan J.; Scurrah, Cherie’ R.; McKinley, Eliot T.; Herring, Charles A.; Irish, Jonathan M.; Washington, Mary K.; Coffey, Robert J.; Lau, Ken S.

2016-01-01

Cellular heterogeneity poses a significant challenge to understanding tissue level phenotypes and confounds conventional bulk analyses. To facilitate the analysis of signaling at the single-cell level in human tissues, we applied mass cytometry using CyTOF (Cytometry Time-of-Flight) to formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) normal and diseased intestinal specimens. We developed and validated a technique called FFPE-DISSECT (Disaggregation for Intracellular Signaling in Single Epithelial Cells from Tissue), a single-cell approach for characterizing native signaling states from embedded solid tissue samples. We applied FFPE-DISSECT coupled to mass cytometry and found differential signaling by tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in intestinal enterocytes, goblet cells and enteroendocrine cells, implicating the role of the downstream RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK signaling pathway in dictating goblet cell identity. In addition, application of FFPE-DISSECT, mass cytometry, and data-driven computational analyses to human colon specimens confirmed reduced differentiation in colorectal cancer (CRC) compared to normal colon, and revealed quantitative increases in inter- and intra-tissue heterogeneity in CRC with regards to the modular regulation of signaling pathways. Specifically, modular co-regulation of the kinases P38 and ERK, the translation regulator 4EBP1, and the transcription factor CREB in the proliferative compartment of the normal colon was loss in CRC, as evidenced by their impaired coordination over samplings of single cells in tissue. Our data suggest that this single-cell approach, applied in conjunction with genomic annotation, such as microsatellite instability and mutations in KRAS and BRAF, allows rapid and detailed characterization of cellular heterogeneity from clinical repositories of embedded human tissues. FFPE-DISSECT coupled of mass cytometry can be used for deriving cellular landscapes from archived patient samples, beyond CRC, and as a high resolution tool for disease characterization and subtyping. PMID:27729552

Antibiotic Algae by Chemical Surface Engineering.

PubMed

Kerschgens, Isabel P; Gademann, Karl

2018-03-02

Chemical cell-surface engineering is a tool for modifying and altering cellular functions. Herein, we report the introduction of an antibiotic phenotype to the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by chemically modifying its cell surface. Flow cytometry and confocal microscopy studies demonstrated that a hybrid of the antibiotic vancomycin and a 4-hydroxyproline oligomer binds reversibly to the cell wall without affecting the viability or motility of the cells. The modified cells were used to inhibit bacterial growth of Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis cultures. Delivery of the antibiotic from the microalgae to the bacterial cells was verified by microscopy. Our studies provide compelling evidence that 1) chemical surface engineering constitutes a useful tool for the introduction of new, previously unknown functionality, and 2) living microalgae can serve as new platforms for drug delivery. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

High-Throughput Single-Cell RNA Sequencing and Data Analysis.

PubMed

Sagar; Herman, Josip Stefan; Pospisilik, John Andrew; Grün, Dominic

2018-01-01

Understanding biological systems at a single cell resolution may reveal several novel insights which remain masked by the conventional population-based techniques providing an average readout of the behavior of cells. Single-cell transcriptome sequencing holds the potential to identify novel cell types and characterize the cellular composition of any organ or tissue in health and disease. Here, we describe a customized high-throughput protocol for single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) combining flow cytometry and a nanoliter-scale robotic system. Since scRNA-seq requires amplification of a low amount of endogenous cellular RNA, leading to substantial technical noise in the dataset, downstream data filtering and analysis require special care. Therefore, we also briefly describe in-house state-of-the-art data analysis algorithms developed to identify cellular subpopulations including rare cell types as well as to derive lineage trees by ordering the identified subpopulations of cells along the inferred differentiation trajectories.

Novel Flow Cytometry Analyses of Boar Sperm Viability: Can the Addition of Whole Sperm-Rich Fraction Seminal Plasma to Frozen-Thawed Boar Sperm Affect It?

PubMed

Torres, Mariana Andrade; Díaz, Rommy; Boguen, Rodrigo; Martins, Simone Maria Massami Kitamura; Ravagnani, Gisele Mouro; Leal, Diego Feitosa; Oliveira, Melissa de Lima; Muro, Bruno Bracco Donatelli; Parra, Beatriz Martins; Meirelles, Flávio Vieira; Papa, Frederico Ozanan; Dell'Aqua, José Antônio; Alvarenga, Marco Antônio; Moretti, Aníbal de Sant'Anna; Sepúlveda, Néstor; de Andrade, André Furugen Cesar

2016-01-01

Boar semen cryopreservation remains a challenge due to the extension of cold shock damage. Thus, many alternatives have emerged to improve the quality of frozen-thawed boar sperm. Although the use of seminal plasma arising from boar sperm-rich fraction (SP-SRF) has shown good efficacy; however, the majority of actual sperm evaluation techniques include a single or dual sperm parameter analysis, which overrates the real sperm viability. Within this context, this work was performed to introduce a sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential. We then used the sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique to study the effect of SP-SRF on frozen-thawed boar sperm and further evaluated the effect of this treatment on sperm movement, tyrosine phosphorylation and fertility rate (FR). The sperm fourfold stain technique is accurate (R2 = 0.9356, p > 0.01) for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (IPIAH cells). Centrifugation pre-cryopreservation was not deleterious (p > 0.05) for any analyzed variables. Addition of SP-SRF after cryopreservation was able to improve total and progressive motility (p < 0.05) when boar semen was cryopreserved without SP-SRF; however, it was not able to decrease tyrosine phosphorylation (p > 0.05) or improve IPIAH cells (p > 0.05). FR was not (p > 0.05) statistically increased by the addition of seminal plasma, though females inseminated with frozen-thawed boar semen plus SP-SRF did perform better than those inseminated with sperm lacking seminal plasma. Thus, we conclude that sperm fourfold stain can be used to simultaneously evaluate plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential, and the addition of SP-SRF at thawed boar semen cryopreserved in absence of SP-SRF improve its total and progressive motility.

Novel Flow Cytometry Analyses of Boar Sperm Viability: Can the Addition of Whole Sperm-Rich Fraction Seminal Plasma to Frozen-Thawed Boar Sperm Affect It?

PubMed Central

Díaz, Rommy; Boguen, Rodrigo; Martins, Simone Maria Massami Kitamura; Ravagnani, Gisele Mouro; Leal, Diego Feitosa; Oliveira, Melissa de Lima; Muro, Bruno Bracco Donatelli; Parra, Beatriz Martins; Meirelles, Flávio Vieira; Papa, Frederico Ozanan; Dell’Aqua, José Antônio; Alvarenga, Marco Antônio; Moretti, Aníbal de Sant’Anna; Sepúlveda, Néstor

2016-01-01

Boar semen cryopreservation remains a challenge due to the extension of cold shock damage. Thus, many alternatives have emerged to improve the quality of frozen-thawed boar sperm. Although the use of seminal plasma arising from boar sperm-rich fraction (SP-SRF) has shown good efficacy; however, the majority of actual sperm evaluation techniques include a single or dual sperm parameter analysis, which overrates the real sperm viability. Within this context, this work was performed to introduce a sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential. We then used the sperm flow cytometry fourfold stain technique to study the effect of SP-SRF on frozen-thawed boar sperm and further evaluated the effect of this treatment on sperm movement, tyrosine phosphorylation and fertility rate (FR). The sperm fourfold stain technique is accurate (R2 = 0.9356, p > 0.01) for simultaneous evaluation of plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential (IPIAH cells). Centrifugation pre-cryopreservation was not deleterious (p > 0.05) for any analyzed variables. Addition of SP-SRF after cryopreservation was able to improve total and progressive motility (p < 0.05) when boar semen was cryopreserved without SP-SRF; however, it was not able to decrease tyrosine phosphorylation (p > 0.05) or improve IPIAH cells (p > 0.05). FR was not (p > 0.05) statistically increased by the addition of seminal plasma, though females inseminated with frozen-thawed boar semen plus SP-SRF did perform better than those inseminated with sperm lacking seminal plasma. Thus, we conclude that sperm fourfold stain can be used to simultaneously evaluate plasma and acrosomal membrane integrity and mitochondrial membrane potential, and the addition of SP-SRF at thawed boar semen cryopreserved in absence of SP-SRF improve its total and progressive motility. PMID:27529819

Isolating LacZ-expressing cells from mouse inner ear tissues using flow cytometry.

PubMed

Jan, Taha A; Chai, Renjie; Sayyid, Zahra N; Cheng, Alan G

2011-12-23

Isolation of specific cell types allows one to analyze rare cell populations such as stem/progenitor cells. Such an approach to studying inner ear tissues presents a unique challenge because of the paucity of cells of interest and few transgenic reporter mouse models. Here, we describe a protocol using fluorescence-conjugated probes to selectively label LacZ-positive cells from the neonatal cochleae. The most common underlying pathology of sensorineural hearing loss is the irreversible damage and loss of cochlear sensory hair cells, which are required to transduce sound waves to neural impulses. Recent evidence suggests that the murine auditory and vestibular organs harbor stem/progenitor cells that may have regenerative potential. These findings warrant further investigation, including identifying specific cell types with stem/progenitor cell characteristics. The Wnt signaling pathway has been demonstrated to play a critical role in maintaining stem/progenitor cell populations in several organ systems. We have recently identified Wnt-responsive Axin2-expressing cells in the neonatal cochlea, but their function is largely unknown. To better understand the behavior of these Wnt-responsive cells in vitro, we have developed a method of isolating Axin2-expressing cells from cochleae of Axin2-LacZ reporter mice. Using flow cytometry to isolate Axin2-LacZ positive cells from the neonatal cochleae, we could in turn execute a variety of experiments on live cells to interrogate their behavior as stem/progenitor cells. Here, we describe in detail the steps for the microdissection of neonatal cochlea, dissociation of these tissues, labeling of the LacZ-positive cells using a fluorogenic substrate, and cell sorting. Techniques for dissociating cochleae into single cells and isolating cochlear cells via flow cytometry have been described. We have made modifications to these techniques to establish a novel protocol to isolate LacZ-expressing cells from the neonatal cochlea.

Metabolic cytometry: capillary electrophoresis with two-color fluorescence detection for the simultaneous study of two glycosphingolipid metabolic pathways in single primary neurons.

PubMed

Essaka, David C; Prendergast, Jillian; Keithley, Richard B; Palcic, Monica M; Hindsgaul, Ole; Schnaar, Ronald L; Dovichi, Norman J

2012-03-20

Metabolic cytometry is a form of chemical cytometry wherein metabolic cascades are monitored in single cells. We report the first example of metabolic cytometry where two different metabolic pathways are simultaneously monitored. Glycolipid catabolism in primary rat cerebella neurons was probed by incubation with tetramethylrhodamine-labeled GM1 (GM1-TMR). Simultaneously, both catabolism and anabolism were probed by coincubation with BODIPY-FL labeled LacCer (LacCer-BODIPY-FL). In a metabolic cytometry experiment, single cells were incubated with substrate, washed, aspirated into a capillary, and lysed. The components were separated by capillary electrophoresis equipped with a two-spectral channel laser-induced fluorescence detector. One channel monitored fluorescence generated by the metabolic products produced from GM1-TMR and the other monitored the metabolic products produced from LacCer-BODIPY-FL. The metabolic products were identified by comparison with the mobility of a set of standards. The detection system produced at least 6 orders of magnitude dynamic range in each spectral channel with negligible spectral crosstalk. Detection limits were 1 zmol for BODIPY-FL and 500 ymol for tetramethylrhodamine standard solutions.

Setting objective thresholds for rare event detection in flow cytometry

PubMed Central

Richards, Adam J.; Staats, Janet; Enzor, Jennifer; McKinnon, Katherine; Frelinger, Jacob; Denny, Thomas N.; Weinhold, Kent J.; Chan, Cliburn

2014-01-01

The accurate identification of rare antigen-specific cytokine positive cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) after antigenic stimulation in an intracellular staining (ICS) flow cytometry assay is challenging, as cytokine positive events may be fairly diffusely distributed and lack an obvious separation from the negative population. Traditionally, the approach by flow operators has been to manually set a positivity threshold to partition events into cytokine-positive and cytokine-negative. This approach suffers from subjectivity and inconsistency across different flow operators. The use of statistical clustering methods does not remove the need to find an objective threshold between between positive and negative events since consistent identification of rare event subsets is highly challenging for automated algorithms, especially when there is distributional overlap between the positive and negative events (“smear”). We present a new approach, based on the Fβ measure, that is similar to manual thresholding in providing a hard cutoff, but has the advantage of being determined objectively. The performance of this algorithm is compared with results obtained by expert visual gating. Several ICS data sets from the External Quality Assurance Program Oversight Laboratory (EQAPOL) proficiency program were used to make the comparisons. We first show that visually determined thresholds are difficult to reproduce and pose a problem when comparing results across operators or laboratories, as well as problems that occur with the use of commonly employed clustering algorithms. In contrast, a single parameterization for the Fβ method performs consistently across different centers, samples, and instruments because it optimizes the precision/recall tradeoff by using both negative and positive controls. PMID:24727143

Cellular vacuolation and mitochondrial-associated factors induced by Clostridium perfringens epsilon toxin detected using acoustic flow cytometry.

PubMed

Ferrarezi, Marina C; Curci, Vera C L M; Cardoso, Tereza C

2013-12-01

Epsilon toxin (ETX) produced by Clostridium perfringens types B and D is a potent toxin that is responsible for fatal enterotoxaemia. In vitro, ETX, which is considered as a pore-forming toxin, forms a heptamer in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell membranes, which is considered to be a pre-pore stage. After binding of the ETX, vacuoles inside cell cytoplasm are produced. ETX causes decreased levels of essential coenzymes required for host cell energy. Here, we optimized and applied acoustic flow cytometry analysis in order to gain further insight into ETX-pathogenesis. Using acoustic flow cytometer analysis, which considered highly sensitive, ETX-exposed MDCK cells revealed mitochondrial membrane decreases followed by 25.48% and 45.45% of the exposed cells expressing the Bax and BCL-2 proteins at a pre-pore stage, respectively. These results together with high cytotoxicity and visualization of cell vacuoles, demonstrates that acoustic flow cytometry analysis potentially represents an effective tool to study ETX pathogenesis. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Novel Quantitative Autophagy Analysis by Organelle Flow Cytometry after Cell Sonication

PubMed Central

Degtyarev, Michael; Reichelt, Mike; Lin, Kui

2014-01-01

Autophagy is a dynamic process of bulk degradation of cellular proteins and organelles in lysosomes. Current methods of autophagy measurement include microscopy-based counting of autophagic vacuoles (AVs) in cells. We have developed a novel method to quantitatively analyze individual AVs using flow cytometry. This method, OFACS (organelle flow after cell sonication), takes advantage of efficient cell disruption with a brief sonication, generating cell homogenates with fluorescently labeled AVs that retain their integrity as confirmed with light and electron microscopy analysis. These AVs could be detected directly in the sonicated cell homogenates on a flow cytometer as a distinct population of expected organelle size on a cytometry plot. Treatment of cells with inhibitors of autophagic flux, such as chloroquine or lysosomal protease inhibitors, increased the number of particles in this population under autophagy inducing conditions, while inhibition of autophagy induction with 3-methyladenine or knockdown of ATG proteins prevented this accumulation. This assay can be easily performed in a high-throughput format and opens up previously unexplored avenues for autophagy analysis. PMID:24489953

A new "Logicle" display method avoids deceptive effects of logarithmic scaling for low signals and compensated data.

PubMed

Parks, David R; Roederer, Mario; Moore, Wayne A

2006-06-01

In immunofluorescence measurements and most other flow cytometry applications, fluorescence signals of interest can range down to essentially zero. After fluorescence compensation, some cell populations will have low means and include events with negative data values. Logarithmic presentation has been very useful in providing informative displays of wide-ranging flow cytometry data, but it fails to adequately display cell populations with low means and high variances and, in particular, offers no way to include negative data values. This has led to a great deal of difficulty in interpreting and understanding flow cytometry data, has often resulted in incorrect delineation of cell populations, and has led many people to question the correctness of compensation computations that were, in fact, correct. We identified a set of criteria for creating data visualization methods that accommodate the scaling difficulties presented by flow cytometry data. On the basis of these, we developed a new data visualization method that provides important advantages over linear or logarithmic scaling for display of flow cytometry data, a scaling we refer to as "Logicle" scaling. Logicle functions represent a particular generalization of the hyperbolic sine function with one more adjustable parameter than linear or logarithmic functions. Finally, we developed methods for objectively and automatically selecting an appropriate value for this parameter. The Logicle display method provides more complete, appropriate, and readily interpretable representations of data that includes populations with low-to-zero means, including distributions resulting from fluorescence compensation procedures, than can be produced using either logarithmic or linear displays. The method includes a specific algorithm for evaluating actual data distributions and deriving parameters of the Logicle scaling function appropriate for optimal display of that data. It is critical to note that Logicle visualization does not change the data values or the descriptive statistics computed from them. Copyright 2006 International Society for Analytical Cytology.

Accuracy of Automated Flow Cytometry-Based Leukocyte Counts To Rule Out Urinary Tract Infection in Febrile Children: a Prospective Cross-Sectional Study

PubMed Central

Duong, Hong Phuoc; Wissing, Karl Martin; Tram, Nathalie; Mascart, Georges; Lepage, Philippe

2016-01-01

Automated flow cytometry of urine remains an incompletely validated method to rule out urinary tract infection (UTI) in children. This cross-sectional analytical study was performed to compare the predictive values of flow cytometry and a dipstick test as initial diagnostic tests for UTI in febrile children and prospectively included 1,106 children (1,247 episodes). Urine culture was used as the gold standard test for diagnosing UTI. The performance of screening tests to diagnose UTI were established using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Among these 1,247 febrile episodes, 221 UTIs were diagnosed (17.7% [95% confidence interval {CI}, 15.6 to 19.8%]). The area under the ROC curve for flow cytometry white blood cell (WBC) counts (0.99 [95% CI, 0.98 to 0.99]) was significantly superior to that for red blood cell (0.74 [95% CI, 0.70 to 0.78]) and bacterial counts (0.89 [95% CI, 0.87 to 0.92]) (P < 0.001). Urinary WBC counts also had a significantly higher area under the ROC curve than that of the leukocyte esterase (LE) dipstick (0.92 [95% CI, 0.90 to 0.94]), nitrite dipstick (0.83 [95% CI, 0.80 to 0.87]), or the combination of positive LE and/or nitrite dipstick (0.91 [95% CI, 0.89 to 0.93]) test (P < 0.001). The presence of ≥35 WBC/μl of urine was the best cutoff point, yielding both a high sensitivity (99.5% [95% CI, 99 to 100%]) and an acceptable specificity (80.6% [95% CI, 78 to 83%]). Using this cutoff point would have reduced the number of samples sent to the laboratory for culture by 67%. In conclusion, the determination of urinary WBC counts by flow cytometry provides optimal performance as an initial diagnostic test for UTI in febrile children. PMID:27682127

Distinction between asymptomatic monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis with cyclin D1 overexpression and mantle cell lymphoma: from molecular profiling to flow cytometry.

PubMed

Espinet, Blanca; Ferrer, Ana; Bellosillo, Beatriz; Nonell, Lara; Salar, Antonio; Fernández-Rodríguez, Concepción; Puigdecanet, Eulàlia; Gimeno, Javier; Garcia-Garcia, Mar; Vela, Maria Carmen; Luño, Elisa; Collado, Rosa; Navarro, José Tomás; de la Banda, Esmeralda; Abrisqueta, Pau; Arenillas, Leonor; Serrano, Cristina; Lloreta, Josep; Miñana, Belén; Cerutti, Andrea; Florensa, Lourdes; Orfao, Alberto; Sanz, Ferran; Solé, Francesc; Dominguez-Sola, David; Serrano, Sergio

2014-02-15

According to current diagnostic criteria, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) encompasses the usual, aggressive variants and rare, nonnodal cases with monoclonal asymptomatic lymphocytosis, cyclin D1-positive (MALD1). We aimed to understand the biology behind this clinical heterogeneity and to identify markers for adequate identification of MALD1 cases. We compared 17 typical MCL cases with a homogeneous group of 13 untreated MALD1 cases (median follow-up, 71 months). We conducted gene expression profiling with functional analysis in five MCL and five MALD1. Results were validated in 12 MCL and 8 MALD1 additional cases by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and in 24 MCL and 13 MALD1 cases by flow cytometry. Classification and regression trees strategy was used to generate an algorithm based on CD38 and CD200 expression by flow cytometry. We found 171 differentially expressed genes with enrichment of neoplastic behavior and cell proliferation signatures in MCL. Conversely, MALD1 was enriched in gene sets related to immune activation and inflammatory responses. CD38 and CD200 were differentially expressed between MCL and MALD1 and confirmed by flow cytometry (median CD38, 89% vs. 14%; median CD200, 0% vs. 24%, respectively). Assessment of both proteins allowed classifying 85% (11 of 13) of MALD1 cases whereas 15% remained unclassified. SOX11 expression by qRT-PCR was significantly different between MCL and MALD1 groups but did not improve the classification. We show for the first time that MALD1, in contrast to MCL, is characterized by immune activation and driven by inflammatory cues. Assessment of CD38/CD200 by flow cytometry is useful to distinguish most cases of MALD1 from MCL in the clinical setting. MALD1 should be identified and segregated from the current MCL category to avoid overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. ©2013 AACR

Distinction between Asymptomatic Monoclonal B-cell Lymphocytosis with Cyclin D1 Overexpression and Mantle Cell Lymphoma: From Molecular Profiling to Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Espinet, Blanca; Ferrer, Ana; Bellosillo, Beatriz; Nonell, Lara; Salar, Antonio; Fernández-Rodríguez, Concepción; Puigdecanet, Eulàlia; Gimeno, Javier; Garcia-Garcia, Mar; Carmen Vela, Maria; Luño, Elisa; Collado, Rosa; Navarro, José Tomás; de la Banda, Esmeralda; Abrisqueta, Pau; Arenillas, Leonor; Serrano, Cristina; Lloreta, Josep; Miñana, Belén; Cerutti, Andrea; Florensa, Lourdes; Orfao, Alberto; Sanz, Ferran; Solé, Francesc; Dominguez-Sola, David; Serrano, Sergio

2015-01-01

Purpose According to current diagnostic criteria, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) encompasses the usual, aggressive variants and rare, nonnodal cases with monoclonal asymptomatic lymphocytosis, cyclin D1–positive (MALD1). We aimed to understand the biology behind this clinical heterogeneity and to identify markers for adequate identification of MALD1 cases. Experimental Design We compared 17 typical MCL cases with a homogeneous group of 13 untreated MALD1 cases (median follow-up, 71 months). We conducted gene expression profiling with functional analysis in five MCL and five MALD1. Results were validated in 12 MCL and 8 MALD1 additional cases by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and in 24 MCL and 13 MALD1 cases by flow cytometry. Classification and regression trees strategy was used to generate an algorithm based on CD38 and CD200 expression by flow cytometry. Results We found 171 differentially expressed genes with enrichment of neoplastic behavior and cell proliferation signatures in MCL. Conversely, MALD1 was enriched in gene sets related to immune activation and inflammatory responses. CD38 and CD200 were differentially expressed between MCL and MALD1 and confirmed by flow cytometry (median CD38, 89% vs. 14%; median CD200, 0% vs. 24%, respectively). Assessment of both proteins allowed classifying 85% (11 of 13) of MALD1 cases whereas 15% remained unclassified. SOX11 expression by qRT-PCR was significantly different between MCL and MALD1 groups but did not improve the classification. Conclusion We show for the first time that MALD1, in contrast to MCL, is characterized by immune activation and driven by inflammatory cues. Assessment of CD38/CD200 by flow cytometry is useful to distinguish most cases of MALD1 from MCL in the clinical setting. MALD1 should be identified and segregated from the current MCL category to avoid overdiagnosis and unnecessary treatment. PMID:24352646

Extended flow cytometry characterization of normal bone marrow progenitor cells by simultaneous detection of aldehyde dehydrogenase and early hematopoietic antigens: implication for erythroid differentiation studies

PubMed Central

Mirabelli, Peppino; Di Noto, Rosa; Lo Pardo, Catia; Morabito, Paolo; Abate, Giovanna; Gorrese, Marisa; Raia, Maddalena; Pascariello, Caterina; Scalia, Giulia; Gemei, Marica; Mariotti, Elisabetta; Del Vecchio, Luigi

2008-01-01

Background Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) is a cytosolic enzyme highly expressed in hematopoietic precursors from cord blood and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor mobilized peripheral blood, as well as in bone marrow from patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia. As regards human normal bone marrow, detailed characterization of ALDH+ cells has been addressed by one single study (Gentry et al, 2007). The goal of our work was to provide new information about the dissection of normal bone marrow progenitor cells based upon the simultaneous detection by flow cytometry of ALDH and early hematopoietic antigens, with particular attention to the expression of ALDH on erythroid precursors. To this aim, we used three kinds of approach: i) multidimensional analytical flow cytometry, detecting ALDH and early hematopoietic antigens in normal bone marrow; ii) fluorescence activated cell sorting of distinct subpopulations of progenitor cells, followed by in vitro induction of erythroid differentiation; iii) detection of ALDH+ cellular subsets in bone marrow from pure red cell aplasia patients. Results In normal bone marrow, we identified three populations of cells, namely ALDH+CD34+, ALDH-CD34+ and ALDH+CD34- (median percentages were 0.52, 0.53 and 0.57, respectively). As compared to ALDH-CD34+ cells, ALDH+CD34+ cells expressed the phenotypic profile of primitive hematopoietic progenitor cells, with brighter expression of CD117 and CD133, accompanied by lower display of CD38 and CD45RA. Of interest, ALDH+CD34- population disclosed a straightforward erythroid commitment, on the basis of three orders of evidences. First of all, ALDH+CD34- cells showed a CD71bright, CD105+, CD45- phenotype. Secondly, induction of differentiation experiments evidenced a clear-cut expression of glycophorin A (CD235a). Finally, ALDH+CD34- precursors were not detectable in patients with pure red cell aplasia (PRCA). Conclusion Our study, comparing surface antigen expression of ALDH+/CD34+, ALDH-/CD34+ and ALDH+/CD34- progenitor cell subsets in human bone marrow, clearly indicated that ALDH+CD34- cells are mainly committed towards erythropoiesis. To the best of our knowledge this finding is new and could be useful for basic studies about normal erythropoietic differentiation as well as for enabling the employment of ALDH as a red cell marker in polychromatic flow cytometry characterization of bone marrow from patients with aplastic anemia and myelodysplasia. PMID:18510759

Multifunctional picoliter droplet manipulation platform and its application in single cell analysis.

PubMed

Gu, Shu-Qing; Zhang, Yun-Xia; Zhu, Ying; Du, Wen-Bin; Yao, Bo; Fang, Qun

2011-10-01

We developed an automated and multifunctional microfluidic platform based on DropLab to perform flexible generation and complex manipulations of picoliter-scale droplets. Multiple manipulations including precise droplet generation, sequential reagent merging, and multistep solid-phase extraction for picoliter-scale droplets could be achieved in the present platform. The system precision in generating picoliter-scale droplets was significantly improved by minimizing the thermo-induced fluctuation of flow rate. A novel droplet fusion technique based on the difference of droplet interfacial tensions was developed without the need of special microchannel networks or external devices. It enabled sequential addition of reagents to droplets on demand for multistep reactions. We also developed an effective picoliter-scale droplet splitting technique with magnetic actuation. The difficulty in phase separation of magnetic beads from picoliter-scale droplets due to the high interfacial tension was overcome using ferromagnetic particles to carry the magnetic beads to pass through the phase interface. With this technique, multistep solid-phase extraction was achieved among picoliter-scale droplets. The present platform had the ability to perform complex multistep manipulations to picoliter-scale droplets, which is particularly required for single cell analysis. Its utility and potentials in single cell analysis were preliminarily demonstrated in achieving high-efficiency single-cell encapsulation, enzyme activity assay at the single cell level, and especially, single cell DNA purification based on solid-phase extraction.

CD33 monoclonal antibody conjugated Au cluster nano-bioprobe for targeted flow-cytometric detection of acute myeloid leukaemia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Retnakumari, Archana; Jayasimhan, Jasusri; Chandran, Parwathy; Menon, Deepthy; Nair, Shantikumar; Mony, Ullas; Koyakutty, Manzoor

2011-07-01

Protein stabilized gold nanoclusters (Au-NCs) are biocompatible, near-infrared (NIR) emitting nanosystems having a wide range of biomedical applications. Here, we report the development of a Au-NC based targeted fluorescent nano-bioprobe for the flow-cytometric detection of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells. Au-NCs with ~ 25-28 atoms showing bright red-NIR fluorescence (600-750 nm) and average size of ~ 0.8 nm were prepared by bovine serum albumin assisted reduction-cum-stabilization in aqueous phase. The protein protected clusters were conjugated with monoclonal antibody against CD33 myeloid antigen, which is overexpressed in ~ 99.2% of the primitive population of AML cells, as confirmed by immunophenotyping using flow cytometry. Au-NC-CD33 conjugates having average size of ~ 12 nm retained bright fluorescence over an extended duration of ~ a year, as the albumin protein protects Au-NCs against degradation. Nanotoxicity studies revealed excellent biocompatibility of Au-NC conjugates, as they showed no adverse effect on the cell viability and inflammatory response. Target specificity of the conjugates for detecting CD33 expressing AML cells (KG1a) in flow cytometry showed specific staining of ~ 95.4% of leukaemia cells within 1-2 h compared to a non-specific uptake of ~ 8.2% in human peripheral blood cells (PBMCs) which are CD33low. The confocal imaging also demonstrated the targeted uptake of CD33 conjugated Au-NCs by leukaemia cells, thus confirming the flow cytometry results. This study demonstrates that novel nano-bioprobes can be developed using protein protected fluorescent nanoclusters of Au for the molecular receptor targeted flow cytometry based detection and imaging of cancer cells.

Accurate Quantification of T Cells by Measuring Loss of Germline T-Cell Receptor Loci with Generic Single Duplex Droplet Digital PCR Assays.

PubMed

Zoutman, Willem H; Nell, Rogier J; Versluis, Mieke; van Steenderen, Debby; Lalai, Rajshri N; Out-Luiting, Jacoba J; de Lange, Mark J; Vermeer, Maarten H; Langerak, Anton W; van der Velden, Pieter A

2017-03-01

Quantifying T cells accurately in a variety of tissues of benign, inflammatory, or malignant origin can be of great importance in a variety of clinical applications. Flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry are considered to be gold-standard methods for T-cell quantification. However, these methods require fresh, frozen, or fixated cells and tissue of a certain quality. In addition, conventional and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR), whether followed by deep sequencing techniques, have been used to elucidate T-cell content by focusing on rearranged T-cell receptor (TCR) genes. These approaches typically target the whole TCR repertoire, thereby supplying additional information about TCR use. We alternatively developed and validated two novel generic single duplex ddPCR assays to quantify T cells accurately by measuring loss of specific germline TCR loci and compared them with flow cytometry-based quantification. These assays target sequences between the Dδ2 and Dδ3 genes (TRD locus) and Dβ1 and Jβ1.1 genes (TRB locus) that become deleted systematically early during lymphoid differentiation. Because these ddPCR assays require small amounts of DNA instead of freshly isolated, frozen, or fixated material, initially unanalyzable (scarce) specimens can be assayed from now on, supplying valuable information about T-cell content. Our ddPCR method provides a novel and sensitive way for quantifying T cells relatively fast, accurate, and independent of the cellular context. Copyright © 2017 American Society for Investigative Pathology and the Association for Molecular Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Toward a generalized and high-throughput enzyme screening system based on artificial genetic circuits.

PubMed

Choi, Su-Lim; Rha, Eugene; Lee, Sang Jun; Kim, Haseong; Kwon, Kilkoang; Jeong, Young-Su; Rhee, Young Ha; Song, Jae Jun; Kim, Hak-Sung; Lee, Seung-Goo

2014-03-21

Large-scale screening of enzyme libraries is essential for the development of cost-effective biological processes, which will be indispensable for the production of sustainable biobased chemicals. Here, we introduce a genetic circuit termed the Genetic Enzyme Screening System that is highly useful for high-throughput enzyme screening from diverse microbial metagenomes. The circuit consists of two AND logics. The first AND logic, the two inputs of which are the target enzyme and its substrate, is responsible for the accumulation of a phenol compound in cell. Then, the phenol compound and its inducible transcription factor, whose activation turns on the expression of a reporter gene, interact in the other logic gate. We confirmed that an individual cell harboring this genetic circuit can present approximately a 100-fold higher cellular fluorescence than the negative control and can be easily quantified by flow cytometry depending on the amounts of phenolic derivatives. The high sensitivity of the genetic circuit enables the rapid discovery of novel enzymes from metagenomic libraries, even for genes that show marginal activities in a host system. The crucial feature of this approach is that this single system can be used to screen a variety of enzymes that produce a phenol compound from respective synthetic phenyl-substrates, including cellulase, lipase, alkaline phosphatase, tyrosine phenol-lyase, and methyl parathion hydrolase. Consequently, the highly sensitive and quantitative nature of this genetic circuit along with flow cytometry techniques could provide a widely applicable toolkit for discovering and engineering novel enzymes at a single cell level.

A CD133-expressing murine liver oval cell population with bilineage potential.

PubMed

Rountree, C Bart; Barsky, Lora; Ge, Shundi; Zhu, Judy; Senadheera, Shantha; Crooks, Gay M

2007-10-01

Although oval cells are postulated to be adult liver stem cells, a well-defined phenotype of a bipotent liver stem cell remains elusive. The heterogeneity of cells within the oval cell fraction has hindered lineage potential studies. Our goal was to identify an enriched population of bipotent oval cells using a combination of flow cytometry and single cell gene expression in conjunction with lineage-specific liver injury models. Expression of cell surface markers on nonparenchymal, nonhematopoietic (CD45-) cells were characterized. Cell populations were isolated by flow cytometry for gene expression studies. 3,5-Diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine toxic injury induced cell cycling and expansion specifically in the subpopulation of oval cells in the periportal zone that express CD133. CD133+CD45- cells expressed hepatoblast and stem cell-associated genes, and single cells coexpressed both hepatocyte and cholangiocyte-associated genes, indicating bilineage potential. CD133+CD45- cells proliferated in response to liver injury. Following toxic hepatocyte damage, CD133+CD45- cells demonstrated upregulated expression of the hepatocyte gene Albumin. In contrast, toxic cholangiocyte injury resulted in upregulation of the cholangiocyte gene Ck19. After 21-28 days in culture, CD133+CD45- cells continued to generate cells of both hepatocyte and cholangiocyte lineages. Thus, CD133 expression identifies a population of oval cells in adult murine liver with the gene expression profile and function of primitive, bipotent liver stem cells. In response to lineage-specific injury, these cells demonstrate a lineage-appropriate genetic response. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.

Heterogeneity of Metazoan Cells and Beyond: To Integrative Analysis of Cellular Populations at Single-Cell Level.

PubMed

Barteneva, Natasha S; Vorobjev, Ivan A

2018-01-01

In this paper, we review some of the recent advances in cellular heterogeneity and single-cell analysis methods. In modern research of cellular heterogeneity, there are four major approaches: analysis of pooled samples, single-cell analysis, high-throughput single-cell analysis, and lately integrated analysis of cellular population at a single-cell level. Recently developed high-throughput single-cell genetic analysis methods such as RNA-Seq require purification step and destruction of an analyzed cell often are providing a snapshot of the investigated cell without spatiotemporal context. Correlative analysis of multiparameter morphological, functional, and molecular information is important for differentiation of more uniform groups in the spectrum of different cell types. Simplified distributions (histograms and 2D plots) can underrepresent biologically significant subpopulations. Future directions may include the development of nondestructive methods for dissecting molecular events in intact cells, simultaneous correlative cellular analysis of phenotypic and molecular features by hybrid technologies such as imaging flow cytometry, and further progress in supervised and non-supervised statistical analysis algorithms.

A CLIPS expert system for clinical flow cytometry data analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Salzman, G. C.; Duque, R. E.; Braylan, R. C.; Stewart, C. C.

1990-01-01

An expert system is being developed using CLIPS to assist clinicians in the analysis of multivariate flow cytometry data from cancer patients. Cluster analysis is used to find subpopulations representing various cell types in multiple datasets each consisting of four to five measurements on each of 5000 cells. CLIPS facts are derived from results of the clustering. CLIPS rules are based on the expertise of Drs. Stewart, Duque, and Braylan. The rules incorporate certainty factors based on case histories.

Microfabrication and Test of a Three-Dimensional Polymer Hydro-focusing Unit for Flow Cytometry Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Ren; Feeback, Daniel L.; Wang, Wanjun

2004-01-01

This paper details a novel three-dimensional (3D) hydro-focusing micro cell sorter for micro flow cytometry applications. The unit was microfabricated by means of SU-8 3D lithography. The 3D microstructure for coaxial sheathing was designed, microfabricated, and tested. Three-dimensional hydro-focusing capability was demonstrated with an experiment to sort labeled tanned sheep erythrocytes (red blood cells). This polymer hydro-focusing microstructure is easily microfabricated and integrated with other polymer microfluidic structures.

Microfabrication and Test of a Three-Dimensional Polymer Hydro-Focusing Unit for Flow Cytometry Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yang, Ren; Feedback, Daniel L.; Wang, Wanjun

2004-01-01

This paper details a novel three-dimensional (3D) hydro-focusing micro cell sorter for micro flow cytometry applications. The unit was micro-fabricated by means of SU-8 3D lithography. The 3D microstructure for coaxial sheathing was designed, micro-fabricated, and tested. Three-dimensional hydrofocusing capability was demonstrated with an experiment to sort labeled tanned sheep erythrocytes (red blood cells). This polymer hydro-focusing microstructure is easily micro-fabricated and integrated with other polymer microfluidic structures.

Multiparameter Flow Cytometry For Clinical Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, Carleton C.

1989-06-01

Flow Cytometry facilities are well established and provide immunophenotyping and DNA content measurement services. The application of immunophenotyping has been primarily in monitoring therapy and in providing further information to aid in the definitive diagnosis of immunological and neoplastic disease such as: immunodeficiency disease, auto immune disease, organ transplantation, and leukemia and lymphoma. DNA content measurements have been particularly important in determining the fraction of cycling cells and presence of aneuploid cells in neoplasia. This information has been useful in the management of patients with solid tumors.

Rapid Identification of Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin Resistance by Flow Cytometry Using a Peptide Nucleic Acid Probe ▿

PubMed Central

Shrestha, Nabin K.; Scalera, Nikole M.; Wilson, Deborah A.; Brehm-Stecher, Byron; Procop, Gary W.

2011-01-01

A total of 56 Staphylococcus aureus isolates incubated for 2 h in the presence or absence of oxacillin were analyzed by flow cytometry after labeling with an S. aureus-specific peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe. Two defined ratios, the paired signal count ratio (PSCR) and the gate signal count ratio (GSCR), differentiated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) with sensitivities of 100% each and specificities of 96% and 100%, respectively. PMID:21795508

Rapid identification of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin resistance by flow cytometry using a peptide nucleic acid probe.

PubMed

Shrestha, Nabin K; Scalera, Nikole M; Wilson, Deborah A; Brehm-Stecher, Byron; Procop, Gary W

2011-09-01

A total of 56 Staphylococcus aureus isolates incubated for 2 h in the presence or absence of oxacillin were analyzed by flow cytometry after labeling with an S. aureus-specific peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe. Two defined ratios, the paired signal count ratio (PSCR) and the gate signal count ratio (GSCR), differentiated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) with sensitivities of 100% each and specificities of 96% and 100%, respectively.

Application of the flow cytometry for determination of the amount of DNA in Yersinia pestis cells under the influence of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korsukov, Vladimir N.; Shchukovskaya, Tatyana N.; Kravtsov, Alexander L.; Popov, Youri A.

2002-07-01

Using flow cytometry a low DNA content in inoculated Yersinia pestis EV cells have been shown at the beginning of culture in Hottinger broth pH 7.2. The dependence serotonin action of its concentration on DNA content have been demonstrated. Serotonin accelerated Yersinia pestis culture growth during cultivation in Hottinger broth pH 7.2 both at 28 degrees C and 37 degrees C at concentration of 10-5 M.

A novel flow cytometry-based method of analyzing Heinz bodies.

PubMed

Palasuwan, D; Palasuwan, A; Charoensappakit, A; Noulsri, E

2017-02-01

Heinz bodies are important to diagnosing and managing patients. However, microscopic examination of Heinz bodies has several disadvantages, demonstrating the need for a better method. We explored the potential use of flow cytometry to examine Heinz bodies. Whole-blood samples were collected from patients deficient in G6PD and healthy volunteers. Acetylphenylhydrazine was used to induce formation of Heinz bodies in red blood cells (RBCs). Then, RBCs positive for Heinz bodies were examined using a FACSCanto II cytometer. RBCs treated with acetylphenylhydrazine formed Heinz bodies and emitted a broad spectrum of fluorescence that could be detected by flow cytometry. The maximum emission of fluorescence was observed at 45 min after the incubation with acetylphenylhydrazine. In addition, the fluorescence emitted was stable for at least 72 h. The flow cytometer could detect the RBCs positive for Heinz bodies even if they made up as little as 0.1% of the total RBC population. Furthermore, the percentage and number, respectively, of RBCs positive for Heinz bodies in G6PD-deficient patients and normal donors exhibited a mean ± standard deviation (SD) of 68.9 ± 27.5 vs. 50.9 ± 28.6 and 96 014 ±35 732 cells/μL vs. 74 688 ± 36 514 cells/μL. Heinz bodies induced by acetylphenylhydrazine emit fluorescence, and this fluorescence could be examined using flow cytometry. Our study suggests the potential use of the developed method to investigate the formation of Heinz bodies in clinical samples. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Integrated light-sheet imaging and flow-based enquiry (iLIFE) system for 3D in-vivo imaging of multicellular organism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rasmi, Chelur K.; Padmanabhan, Sreedevi; Shirlekar, Kalyanee; Rajan, Kanhirodan; Manjithaya, Ravi; Singh, Varsha; Mondal, Partha Pratim

2017-12-01

We propose and demonstrate a light-sheet-based 3D interrogation system on a microfluidic platform for screening biological specimens during flow. To achieve this, a diffraction-limited light-sheet (with a large field-of-view) is employed to optically section the specimens flowing through the microfluidic channel. This necessitates optimization of the parameters for the illumination sub-system (illumination intensity, light-sheet width, and thickness), microfluidic specimen platform (channel-width and flow-rate), and detection sub-system (camera exposure time and frame rate). Once optimized, these parameters facilitate cross-sectional imaging and 3D reconstruction of biological specimens. The proposed integrated light-sheet imaging and flow-based enquiry (iLIFE) imaging technique enables single-shot sectional imaging of a range of specimens of varying dimensions, ranging from a single cell (HeLa cell) to a multicellular organism (C. elegans). 3D reconstruction of the entire C. elegans is achieved in real-time and with an exposure time of few hundred micro-seconds. A maximum likelihood technique is developed and optimized for the iLIFE imaging system. We observed an intracellular resolution for mitochondria-labeled HeLa cells, which demonstrates the dynamic resolution of the iLIFE system. The proposed technique is a step towards achieving flow-based 3D imaging. We expect potential applications in diverse fields such as structural biology and biophysics.

Optimized small molecule antibody labeling efficiency through continuous flow centrifugal diafiltration.

PubMed

Cappione, Amedeo; Mabuchi, Masaharu; Briggs, David; Nadler, Timothy

2015-04-01

Protein immuno-detection encompasses a broad range of analytical methodologies, including western blotting, flow cytometry, and microscope-based applications. These assays which detect, quantify, and/or localize expression for one or more proteins in complex biological samples, are reliant upon fluorescent or enzyme-tagged target-specific antibodies. While small molecule labeling kits are available with a range of detection moieties, the workflow is hampered by a requirement for multiple dialysis-based buffer exchange steps that are both time-consuming and subject to sample loss. In a previous study, we briefly described an alternative method for small-scale protein labeling with small molecule dyes whereby all phases of the conjugation workflow could be performed in a single centrifugal diafiltration device. Here, we expand on this foundational work addressing functionality of the device at each step in the workflow (sample cleanup, labeling, unbound dye removal, and buffer exchange/concentration) and the implications for optimizing labeling efficiency. When compared to other common buffer exchange methodologies, centrifugal diafiltration offered superior performance as measured by four key parameters (process time, desalting capacity, protein recovery, retain functional integrity). Originally designed for resin-based affinity purification, the device also provides a platform for up-front antibody purification or albumin carrier removal. Most significantly, by exploiting the rapid kinetics of NHS-based labeling reactions, the process of continuous diafiltration minimizes reaction time and long exposure to excess dye, guaranteeing maximal target labeling while limiting the risks associated with over-labeling. Overall, the device offers a simplified workflow with reduced processing time and hands-on requirements, without sacrificing labeling efficiency, final yield, or conjugate performance. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Three-dimensional DNA image cytometry by optical projection tomographic microscopy for early cancer diagnosis.

PubMed

Agarwal, Nitin; Biancardi, Alberto M; Patten, Florence W; Reeves, Anthony P; Seibel, Eric J

2014-04-01

Aneuploidy is typically assessed by flow cytometry (FCM) and image cytometry (ICM). We used optical projection tomographic microscopy (OPTM) for assessing cellular DNA content using absorption and fluorescence stains. OPTM combines some of the attributes of both FCM and ICM and generates isometric high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) images of single cells. Although the depth of field of the microscope objective was in the submicron range, it was extended by scanning the objective's focal plane. The extended depth of field image is similar to a projection in a conventional x-ray computed tomography. These projections were later reconstructed using computed tomography methods to form a 3-D image. We also present an automated method for 3-D nuclear segmentation. Nuclei of chicken, trout, and triploid trout erythrocyte were used to calibrate OPTM. Ratios of integrated optical densities extracted from 50 images of each standard were compared to ratios of DNA indices from FCM. A comparison of mean square errors with thionin, hematoxylin, Feulgen, and SYTOX green was done. Feulgen technique was preferred as it showed highest stoichiometry, least variance, and preserved nuclear morphology in 3-D. The addition of this quantitative biomarker could further strengthen existing classifiers and improve early diagnosis of cancer using 3-D microscopy.

Identifying the Presence of Prostate Cancer in Individuals with PSA Levels <20 ng ml-1 Using Computational Data Extraction Analysis of High Dimensional Peripheral Blood Flow Cytometric Phenotyping Data.

PubMed

Cosma, Georgina; McArdle, Stéphanie E; Reeder, Stephen; Foulds, Gemma A; Hood, Simon; Khan, Masood; Pockley, A Graham

2017-01-01

Determining whether an asymptomatic individual with Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) levels below 20 ng ml -1 has prostate cancer in the absence of definitive, biopsy-based evidence continues to present a significant challenge to clinicians who must decide whether such individuals with low PSA values have prostate cancer. Herein, we present an advanced computational data extraction approach which can identify the presence of prostate cancer in men with PSA levels <20 ng ml -1 on the basis of peripheral blood immune cell profiles that have been generated using multi-parameter flow cytometry. Statistical analysis of immune phenotyping datasets relating to the presence and prevalence of key leukocyte populations in the peripheral blood, as generated from individuals undergoing routine tests for prostate cancer (including tissue biopsy) using multi-parametric flow cytometric analysis, was unable to identify significant relationships between leukocyte population profiles and the presence of benign disease (no prostate cancer) or prostate cancer. By contrast, a Genetic Algorithm computational approach identified a subset of five flow cytometry features ( CD 8 + CD 45 RA - CD 27 - CD 28 - ( CD 8 + Effector Memory cells); CD 4 + CD 45 RA - CD 27 - CD 28 - ( CD 4 + Terminally Differentiated Effector Memory Cells re-expressing CD45RA); CD 3 - CD 19 + (B cells); CD 3 + CD 56 + CD 8 + CD 4 + (NKT cells)) from a set of twenty features, which could potentially discriminate between benign disease and prostate cancer. These features were used to construct a prostate cancer prediction model using the k-Nearest-Neighbor classification algorithm. The proposed model, which takes as input the set of flow cytometry features, outperformed the predictive model which takes PSA values as input. Specifically, the flow cytometry-based model achieved Accuracy = 83.33%, AUC = 83.40%, and optimal ROC points of FPR = 16.13%, TPR = 82.93%, whereas the PSA-based model achieved Accuracy = 77.78%, AUC = 76.95%, and optimal ROC points of FPR = 29.03%, TPR = 82.93%. Combining PSA and flow cytometry predictors achieved Accuracy = 79.17%, AUC = 78.17% and optimal ROC points of FPR = 29.03%, TPR = 85.37%. The results demonstrate the value of computational intelligence-based approaches for interrogating immunophenotyping datasets and that combining peripheral blood phenotypic profiling with PSA levels improves diagnostic accuracy compared to using PSA test alone. These studies also demonstrate that the presence of cancer is reflected in changes in the peripheral blood immune phenotype profile which can be identified using computational analysis and interpretation of complex flow cytometry datasets.

Globular Head-Displayed Conserved Influenza H1 Hemagglutinin Stalk Epitopes Confer Protection against Heterologous H1N1 Virus.

PubMed

Klausberger, Miriam; Tscheliessnig, Rupert; Neff, Silke; Nachbagauer, Raffael; Wohlbold, Teddy John; Wilde, Monika; Palmberger, Dieter; Krammer, Florian; Jungbauer, Alois; Grabherr, Reingard

2016-01-01

Significant genetic variability in the head region of the influenza A hemagglutinin, the main target of current vaccines, makes it challenging to develop a long-lived seasonal influenza prophylaxis. Vaccines based on the conserved hemagglutinin stalk domain might provide broader cross-reactive immunity. However, this region of the hemagglutinin is immunosubdominant to the head region. Peptide-based vaccines have gained much interest as they allow the immune system to focus on relevant but less immunogenic epitopes. We developed a novel influenza A hemagglutinin-based display platform for H1 hemagglutinin stalk peptides that we identified in an epitope mapping assay using human immune sera and synthetic HA peptides. Flow cytometry and competition assays suggest that the identified stalk sequences do not recapitulate the epitopes of already described broadly neutralizing stalk antibodies. Vaccine constructs displaying 25-mer stalk sequences provided up to 75% protection from lethal heterologous virus challenge in BALB/c mice and induced antibody responses against the H1 hemagglutinin. The developed platform based on a vaccine antigen has the potential to be either used as stand-alone or as prime-vaccine in combination with conventional seasonal or pandemic vaccines for the amplification of stalk-based cross-reactive immunity in humans or as platform to evaluate the relevance of viral peptides/epitopes for protection against influenza virus infection.

Flow cytometry beads rather than the antihuman globulin method should be used to detect HLA Class I IgG antibody (PRA) in cadaveric renal regraft candidates.

PubMed

Bryan, Christopher F; McDonald, Scott B; Baier, Karen A; Luger, Alan M; Aeder, Mark I; Murillo, Daniel; Muruve, Nicolas A; Nelson, Paul W; Shield, Charles F; Warady, Bradley A

2002-01-01

HLA Class I antibody screening can be performed by flow cytometry using a mixture of 30 distinct bead populations each coated with the Class I antigen phenotype derived from different cell lines. In this study we compared the efficacy of Class I antibody screens done by flow cytometry beads with the antihuman globulin (AHG) method for patients awaiting cadaveric renal retransplantation. Class I panel reactive antibody (PRA) screening by flow cytometric beads of 21 regraft serum samples that had all been found to be negative by AHG DTT Class I PRA, revealed that 57.1% (12 of 21) had a flow Class I PRA of > or = 10%. Furthermore, when five regraft sera with an intermediate PRA were screened (mean AHG DTT PRA = 33.2 +/- 13%) the mean flow Class I PRA almost doubled (mean flow PRA = 72.4 +/- 10.2%) (p < 0.01). When active UNOS waiting list regraft candidates, after several months of screening the Class I PRA by flow beads, were divided into the three PRA categories based on their peak flow Class I PRA value (0-20%, 21-79% and > or = 80%), the incidence of a positive flow cross-match was 0%, 72% and 85% and the incidence of retransplantation was 60%, 22% and 10%, in each of these groups, respectively. These data provided our histocompatibility laboratory with the rationale to stop performing the AHG PRA and perform only the flow Class I PRA method for regraft candidates.

Simultaneous Evaluation of Life Cycle Dynamics between a Host Paramecium and the Endosymbionts of Paramecium bursaria Using Capillary Flow Cytometry.

PubMed

Takahashi, Toshiyuki

2016-08-17

Endosymbioses are driving forces underlying cell evolution. The endosymbiosis exhibited by Paramecium bursaria is an excellent model with which to study symbiosis. A single-cell microscopic analysis of P. bursaria reveals that endosymbiont numbers double when the host is in the division phase. Consequently, endosymbionts must arrange their cell cycle schedule if the culture-condition-dependent change delays the generation time of P. bursaria. However, it remains poorly understood whether endosymbionts keep pace with the culture-condition-dependent behaviors of P. bursaria, or not. Using microscopy and flow cytometry, this study investigated the life cycle behaviors occurring between endosymbionts and the host. To establish a connection between the host cell cycle and endosymbionts comprehensively, multivariate analysis was applied. The multivariate analysis revealed important information related to regulation between the host and endosymbionts. Results show that dividing endosymbionts underwent transition smoothly from the division phase to interphase, when the host was in the logarithmic phase. In contrast, endosymbiont division stagnated when the host was in the stationary phase. This paper explains that endosymbionts fine-tune their cell cycle pace with their host and that a synchronous life cycle between the endosymbionts and the host is guaranteed in the symbiosis of P. bursaria.

Simultaneous Evaluation of Life Cycle Dynamics between a Host Paramecium and the Endosymbionts of Paramecium bursaria Using Capillary Flow Cytometry

PubMed Central

Takahashi, Toshiyuki

2016-01-01

Endosymbioses are driving forces underlying cell evolution. The endosymbiosis exhibited by Paramecium bursaria is an excellent model with which to study symbiosis. A single-cell microscopic analysis of P. bursaria reveals that endosymbiont numbers double when the host is in the division phase. Consequently, endosymbionts must arrange their cell cycle schedule if the culture-condition-dependent change delays the generation time of P. bursaria. However, it remains poorly understood whether endosymbionts keep pace with the culture-condition-dependent behaviors of P. bursaria, or not. Using microscopy and flow cytometry, this study investigated the life cycle behaviors occurring between endosymbionts and the host. To establish a connection between the host cell cycle and endosymbionts comprehensively, multivariate analysis was applied. The multivariate analysis revealed important information related to regulation between the host and endosymbionts. Results show that dividing endosymbionts underwent transition smoothly from the division phase to interphase, when the host was in the logarithmic phase. In contrast, endosymbiont division stagnated when the host was in the stationary phase. This paper explains that endosymbionts fine-tune their cell cycle pace with their host and that a synchronous life cycle between the endosymbionts and the host is guaranteed in the symbiosis of P. bursaria. PMID:27531180

In Vivo Rat T-Lymphocyte Pig-a Assay: Detection and Expansion of Cells Deficient in the GPI-Anchored CD48 Surface Marker for Analysis of Mutation in the Endogenous Pig-a Gene.

PubMed

Dobrovolsky, Vasily N; Revollo, Javier; Petibone, Dayton M; Heflich, Robert H

2017-01-01

The Pig-a assay is being developed as an in vivo gene mutation assay for regulatory safety assessments. The assay is based on detecting mutation in the endogenous Pig-a gene of treated rats by using flow cytometry to measure changes in cell surface markers of peripheral blood cells. Here we present a methodology for demonstrating that phenotypically mutant rat T-cells identified by flow cytometry contain mutations in the Pig-a gene, an important step for validating the assay. In our approach, the mutant phenotype T-cells are sorted into individual wells of 96-well plates and expanded into clones. Subsequent sequencing of genomic DNA from the expanded clones confirms that the Pig-a assay detects exactly what it claims to detect-cells with mutations in the endogenous Pig-a gene. In addition, determining the spectra of Pig-a mutations provides information for better understanding the mutational mechanism of compounds of interest. Our methodology of combining phenotypic antibody labeling, magnetic enrichment, sorting, and single-cell clonal expansion can be used in genotoxicity/mutagenicity studies and in other general immunotoxicology research requiring identification, isolation, and expansion of extremely rare subpopulations of T-cells.

Experimental and theoretical study of light scattering by individual mature red blood cells by use of scanning flow cytometry and a discrete dipole approximation.

PubMed

Yurkin, Maxim A; Semyanov, Konstantin A; Tarasov, Peter A; Chernyshev, Andrei V; Hoekstra, Alfons G; Maltsev, Valeri P

2005-09-01

Elastic light scattering by mature red blood cells (RBCs) was theoretically and experimentally analyzed by use of the discrete dipole approximation (DDA) and scanning flow cytometry (SFC), respectively. SFC permits measurement of the angular dependence of the light-scattering intensity (indicatrix) of single particles. A mature RBC is modeled as a biconcave disk in DDA simulations of light scattering. We have studied the effect of RBC orientation related to the direction of the light incident upon the indicatrix. Numerical calculations of indicatrices for several axis ratios and volumes of RBC have been carried out. Comparison of the simulated indicatrices and indicatrices measured by SFC showed good agreement, validating the biconcave disk model for a mature RBC. We simulated the light-scattering output signals from the SFC with the DDA for RBCs modeled as a disk-sphere and as an oblate spheroid. The biconcave disk, the disk-sphere, and the oblate spheroid models have been compared for two orientations, i.e., face-on and rim-on incidence, relative to the direction of the incident beam. Only the oblate spheroid model for rim-on incidence gives results similar to those of the rigorous biconcave disk model.

In vivo Raman flow cytometry for real-time detection of carbon nanotube kinetics in lymph, blood, and tissues

PubMed Central

Biris, Alexandru S.; Galanzha, Ekaterina I.; Li, Zhongrui; Mahmood, Meena; Xu, Yang; Zharov, Vladimir P.

2016-01-01

Nanoparticles are intensively being explored as contrast agents for medical diagnostics and therapies using various optical methods. We present the first demonstration of the use of time-resolved Raman spectroscopy for in vivo real-time detection of circulating carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or cancer cells labeled with CNTs in the lymph, blood, and tissues of live animals with fast spectral acquisition times of down to few milliseconds. After intravenously administering CNTs in the tail vein of the rat, this technique provides the ability to detect the circulation of CNTs in the blood microvessels of the intact rat ear. The capability of Raman spectroscopy is also demonstrated to monitor, identify, and image the CNTs during their transportation by lymphatics in the rat ear and mesentery. The strong and specific Raman scattering properties of CNTs make it possible to detect in vitro and in vivo single cancer cells (HeLa) tagged with CNTs. In vivo Raman flow cytometry opens a new avenue for multiparameter analysis of circulating nanoparticles with strong Raman scattering properties and their pharmokinetics in blood and lymph systems. Moreover, this technology has the potential for molecular detection and identification of circulating tumor cells, and infections labeled with CNTs. PMID:19405719