However, what question this would answer is not clear, as these cells would represent
only a fraction of the total actually "programmed" to express this cytokine by the in vivo
environment. In other words, you would detect only those cells which just happened to
contain cytokine in their cytoplasm at the moment you fixed them.
Several of the papers in the literature do employ brief stimulation in the presence of a stimulation
inhibitor of ex vivo cells: Picker LJ et al in "Blood" 1994 is one of the earlier ones.
Dearbhaile O Donnell
University College Dublin