Re: Bacteria and flow cytometry

jvives@porthos.bio.ub.es
Fri, 24 Nov 1995 12:01:41 +0000

We have observed cells which do not seem to be clearly alive or dead
according to Rh123 or bis-oxonol staining, too. These observations would
suggest at least three things:
1) Bacterial populations are very heterogenous in relation with
membrane potential.
2) Viable plate counts do not reflect the heterogenous metabolic
status of the bacterial populations.
3) To decide if a bacteria is viable or not by Rh123 or any other
vital stain, it may be necessary to validate previously for
every strain the level of staining that implies that this particular
cell/population is dead or alive.

We are afraid that an universal vital stain is difficult ot obtain.

Ricard Lopez-Amoros . E-mail: amoros@porthos.bio.ub.es
Jaume Comas. E-mail: jaume@giga.sct.ub.es
Josep "Temi " Vives-Rego. E-mail: jvives@porthos.bio.ub.es

atin is
still

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