Riccardi Carlo, Nicoletti Ildo
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Perugia, and Foundation IBiT, 06122 Perugia, Italy.
Nat Protoc. 2006;1(3):1458-61. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2006.238.
Since its introduction, the propidium iodide (PI) flow cytometric assay has been widely used for the evaluation of apoptosis in different experimental models. It is based on the principle that apoptotic cells, among other typical features, are characterized by DNA fragmentation and, consequently, loss of nuclear DNA content. Use of a fluorochrome, such as PI, that is capable of binding and labeling DNA makes it possible to obtain a rapid (the protocol can be completed in about 2 h) and precise evaluation of cellular DNA content by flow cytometric analysis, and subsequent identification of hypodiploid cells. The original protocol enhanced the capacity for a rapid, quantitative measure of cell apoptosis. For this reason, since its publication, the PI assay has been widely used, as demonstrated by the large number of citations of the original paper and/or the continuous use of the method in many laboratories.
自引入以来，碘化丙啶（PI）流式细胞术检测已广泛应用于不同实验模型中细胞凋亡的评估。它基于这样一个原理：凋亡细胞除了具有其他典型特征外，其特点是DNA片段化，进而导致核DNA含量的丧失。使用能够结合并标记DNA的荧光染料，如PI，使得通过流式细胞术分析快速（该方案大约2小时即可完成）且精确地评估细胞DNA含量，并随后鉴定亚二倍体细胞成为可能。原始方案提高了快速、定量测量细胞凋亡的能力。因此，自发表以来，PI检测已被广泛使用，原始论文的大量引用和/或许多实验室对该方法的持续使用就证明了这一点。
