Re: Cell cycle analysis of neurons

From: Derek Davies (derek.davies@cancer.org.uk)
Date: Mon Oct 28 2002 - 04:29:06 EST


Hi Paulette,

You are right in that there can be significant cell loss during BrdU
staining - I always recommend that to get 20,000 useful events, you need to
start with 10x that number (not that 90% will be lost but if there is a
pellet you can monitor cell loss more easily). If the cells have been
ethanol fixed, you need to be quite careful spinning them; I always spin
them quite hard - you probably wont induce any cell damage. The
acid-denaturation method does involve a number of centrifugation steps so
be careful with removing the supernatant. There are some downloadable
protocols on my website:
http://sci.cancerresearchuk.org/axp/facs/davies/CycleBrdU.html

Good luck!
Derek



> We have recently started trying to use BrdU/PI flow to study the cell
>cycle characteristics of embryonic mouse brains. We have had some success
>in obtaining single cell suspensions but are having real problems with
>cell loss during BrdU staining which we think is related to HCl treatment
>to denature the DNA (could this be lysing these fragile cells?). 70%
>ethanol fixed cells treated with 2N HCl for 30mins show good BrdU staining
>under the microscope but are really very few (90%+ lost)   Has anyone done
>such an analysis? Does anyone have a suitable protocol? Or know anyone who
>does? Or any good ideas?   We look forward to any helpful suggestions.
>Paulette Zaki and Ben Martynoga   Department of Biomedical Sciences
>University of Edinburgh
>Get faster connectionsİ-- switch toİMSN Internet Access!
><http://g.msn.com/8HMOEN/2017>Click Here


************************************************************************
Derek Davies					Voice: (44) 020 7269 3394
FACS Laboratory,			FAX: (44) 020 7269 3100
London Research Institute,		e_mail: derek.davies@cancer.org.uk
Cancer Research UK		mobile: 07790 604112
44 Linolns Inn Fields, London, UK.

Web Page: http://sci.cancerresearchuk.org/axp/facs/davies/index.html

In tenebris lux
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