Live/Dead Assays

John J. Ladasky II (ladasky@netcom.com)
Wed, 23 Sep 92 14:14:29 PDT

Greetings!

A common method for determining the percentage of viable cells in
a sample is to stain the sample with a mixture of ethidium and acridine
orange, and to observe the sample under a fluorescence microscope. In
flow cytometry, a sample is usually counterstained with propidium in order
to exclude dead cells.

I have been comparing these two methods, and have found that the
propidium-based method in flow always gives me a higher percentage of dead
cells than the ethdium/acridine orange microscope method.

Any ideas why this is so?

- John Ladasky

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CD ROM Vol 2 was produced by staff at the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories and distributed free of charge as an educational service to the cytometry community. If you have any comments please direct them to Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director, PUCL, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone:(317) 494-0757; FAX (317) 494-0517; Web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu EMAIL robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu