Flow sorting of mouse pancreatic B cells by forward and orthogonal light scattering.

Mouse islet cell suspensions were separated into subpopulations based on forward low angle and orthogonal scattered light. Separation fractions were analyzed for hormone content by radioimmunoassays. The pancreatic B-cells had the highest orthogonal light scattering, while they overlapped in forward low angle light scattering with other endocrine (glucagon, pancreatic polypeptide and somatostatin containing cells) and nonendocrine cells. Living and paraformaldehyde fixed islet cell suspensions showed similar distributions of combined light scattering.