The Clinical Importance Of A Flow Cytometer

By Sharlene Fleming


Medical diagnosing entails a number of factors and must be expertly performed using highly sensitive equipment that can be able to detect trace occurrences. Such is the case with cell-based evaluations that basically require highly complex equipment and detailed procedures to capture the details. Therefore the flow cytometer is an example of equipment that can be used to carry out important cellular examinations like cell count.

In biomarker detection and protein engineering it is necessary to utilize such type of equipment. This is because of the sensitive nature of the process requiring equally responsive equipment. Health disorders such as blood cancers will be determined using such an approach because it captures cell-based details.

Diagnosing these conditions requires the use of such sensitive apparatus especially when the practice covers the cells which are microscopic and so cannot be evaluated using ordinary equipment. The primary feature for such an evaluation is cell-based and so this apparatus is considered as suitable within such an application.

The procedure itself involves a number of components. Generally the cells to be analyzed are suspended in a stream of fluid. Once this has been done the stream is projected over an electronic detection system. This captures the pattern and a special software can eventually be used to plot such patterns for further evaluation. Basically the labeling of these cells is achieved through a number of techniques. This includes the fluorescent labels where fluorophores are attached to an antibody that recognizes the target.

A laser beam is used at the detection point whereby this type of beam is of single wavelength. The stream of fluid with suspended cells is hydro-dynamically focused. Additionally there are detectors that are positioned near the stream. In this way the labeled cells are identified. This can be as quantum dots that are known to give a narrower peak. The cells can also be tagged through the isotope labeling.

In this way the physical and chemical structure of the cells can be determined. Therefore the behavior of such cells within the electronic field gives the researcher clues on the nature of the particles being examined. The fluid here is used to align the cells in order to capture their pattern. Normally the collected data is plotted in a single dimension like a histogram. This representation can also be in two and three dimensions giving more clarity and analysis.

Characteristically this equipment has five main parts. There is the flow cell that is basically the suspension fluid that is used to arrange the particles. During the measurement process conductivity or impedance will be used to capture the desired outcome. In proximity to this is an optical unit that has xenon or mercury based lamps. The unit also has a detector and analog to digital converter.

In addition an amplifier is found within this system. This is used to amplify a process that can either be carried out linearly or logarithmically. The data is then submitted to the computer running special software for further inspection. Currently it is common to find fluorescence activated cell sorting implemented in the flow cytometer. This particularly sorts biological cells in heterogeneous mixtures into several groups.




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Posted by: Unknown - Friday, October 5, 2012

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