Annexin V staining & scatter changes

From: Andreas.Christaras (christar@uni-duesseldorf.de)
Date: Mon Jul 14 1997 - 20:40:04 EST


Dear Flow-ers,

I've one question about annexin V staining and its possible influence &
effect on scatter characteristics of cells.

I try to determine the amount of apoptotic cells by annexin V staining kit
(PharMingen) and subsequent analysis on a FACScan. The conditions used in
my experiments comprise incubation with apoptosis inducing antibody CH11
(Immunotech) and a variety of cytokines e.g. TNF-alpha. The cells I use for
my investigations are human leukemic B-cells (mature B immunotype).

On analysis of the cells, I experience a change in scatter characteristics
(see ASCII depiction below). All prior experiments (e.g. CD95 expression,
bcl-2 expression) showed a typical scatter picture of lymphocytes or
lymphoblasts with a medium forward scatter and a low side scatter. Staining
with annexin V causes the cells to have a low forward scatter and a medium
side scatter so as the dot-plot had been mirrored. This phenomenon occurs
on all conditions analysed (including untreated control). I checked for
possible staining procedure errors, but I didn't find anything to have gone
wrong according to the kit's description and procedure manual.

Has anyone else on the list experienced such a change in scatter
characteristics ? Could this scatter change be due to the binding buffer
necessary for annexin staining (my suspicion, but unproven yet) ?

Any help on this problem is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

Best regards,

Symbolic picture of normal scatter     Symbolic picture of changed scatter
S !                                     S !
I !                                     I !
D !                                     D !
E !                                     E !    *
  !                                       !   ***
S !                                     S !  ****
C !                                     C !  *****
A !                                     A ! ******
T !    ***********                      T ! *******
T !   **********                        T !  ****** 
E !-------------------------->          E !----------------------------->
R  FORWARD SCATTER (FSC)                R  FORWARD SCATTER (FSC)

If anyone needs more precise data on this problem, I can mail the data files.

Thanks again

_________________________________________________________
Andreas Christaras
Heinrich-Heine University Children's Hospital Duesseldorf
Lab. of Experimental Hematology (KMT-Labor)
Bldg. 14.82 (Gebaeude 14.82) - Moorenstrasse 5
4 0 2 2 5    D U E S S E L D O R F    -   G E R M A N Y
---------------------------------------------------------
Fon: +49-211-81-16103               Fax: +49-211-81-16191
E-Mail: christar@uni-duesseldorf.de
_________________________________________________________



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