Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, USA.
Front Neuroanat. 2012 Jul 11;6:27. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2012.00027. eCollection 2012.
The large size of primate brains is an impediment to obtaining high-resolution cell number maps of the cortex in humans and non-human primates. We present a rapid, flow cytometry-based cell counting method that can be used to estimate cell numbers from homogenized brain tissue samples comprising the entire cortical sheet. The new method, called the flow fractionator, is based on the isotropic fractionator (IF) method (Herculano-Houzel and Lent, 2005), but substitutes flow cytometry analysis for manual, microscope analysis using a Neubauer counting chamber. We show that our flow cytometry-based method for total cell estimation in homogenized brain tissue provides comparable data to that obtained using a counting chamber on a microscope. The advantages of the flow fractionator over existing methods are improved precision of cell number estimates and improved speed of analysis.
灵长类动物大脑的体积较大，这给获取人类和非人类灵长类动物大脑皮质的高分辨率细胞数量图谱造成了阻碍。我们提出了一种快速的、基于流式细胞术的细胞计数方法，可用于从包含整个皮质层的匀浆脑组织样本中估计细胞数量。这种新方法称为流式分选区，它基于各向同性分选区（IF）方法（Herculano-Houzel 和 Lent，2005），但用流式细胞术分析替代了使用 Neubauer 计数室的手动显微镜分析。我们表明，我们用于匀浆脑组织中总细胞估计的基于流式细胞术的方法提供的结果与在显微镜上用计数室获得的结果相当。与现有方法相比，流式分选区的优势在于提高了细胞数量估计的精度和分析速度。
