Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
17
Flow Cytometric Analysis of Cells
from Persons with HIV-1 Disease
by Enzymatic Amplification Staining
David Kaplan
Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio,
USA
INTRODUCTION
Flow cytometry is a powerful analytical tool because it allows for e½cient
assessments of multiple characteristics on a large number of single cells in a
reasonably short time. The capacity to analyze thousands of cells in less than a
minute provides statistically signi®cant information about cells in a hetero-
geneous population. Flow cytometry is a cell-by-cell analysis that provides
information on individual cells in a diverse population so that structurally and
functionally meaningful groupings can be visualized. These groupings can have
profound signi®cance for understanding biological events and consequently for
making clinical decisions.
Flow cytometric analysis can assess the entire cell. Preparative techniques for
detecting cell surface molecules, intracellular molecules, and speci®c nucleic
acid sequences have been developed. Analysis of cell surface molecules is par-
ticularly interesting because the cells are intact and consequently the back-
ground is low. Moreover, the accumulation of molecules in the surface mem-
brane is a concentrating mechanism that enhances the capacity for detection.
Nevertheless, the most important limitation of ¯ow cytometric analysis of
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