Library · Test
Flow cytometry
Make it clearer
Flow cytometry is a laboratory technique used to find out what the cells in a sample are like. It measures their physical and chemical properties from two signals, how they scatter the light that reaches them and what fluorescence they emit, that is, what light they give back after being illuminated.
The name explains everything. Flow, because the sample is moving; cytometry, because what gets measured is the cell. Cells file past a beam of light and each one is measured on its own. That way the instrument does not deliver an average of the whole sample, but one reading per cell.
That is what makes it useful. Its most frequent application is immunophenotyping, which consists of identifying what markers each cell carries on its surface and what lineage it belongs to. And it does it fast: about thirty thousand cells per second.
In brief
Flow cytometry measures the physical and chemical properties of cells by analyzing how they scatter light and what fluorescence they emit.
The name comes from the fact that the measurement is made on the cell in a sample that is moving, and each cell is analyzed separately.
Cells file past a beam of light and each one is measured on its own.
Its most common application is immunophenotyping, and it can analyze about thirty thousand cells per second.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingFlow Cytometry Blood Cell Identification, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
Updated