Evaluating Effects of Cell Sorting on Cellular Integrity

During the past year the Flow Cytometry Research Group has continued on its goal to establish best practice guidelines for cell sorting conditions that minimize cell stress, perturbation, or injury to the sorted cells. Towards this goal the group has followed up on an observation from our initial study that showed poor cell recovery when a clonal population of cells (Jurkat) was sorted aggressively under intentionally adverse sorting conditions (excessive pressure as well as undersized sorting orifice). In this follow-up study we sought to identify unique qualities of the cells that survived the adverse sorting conditions, in the hope that this may prove to be a useful test method for assessing deleterious effects of cell sorting across a wide variety of cell types. To address this question, six FCRG member-sites received a distribution of the same Jurkat cell population and using different instrumentation and sorting conditions, sorted these cells for subsequent cell cycle analysis, post-sort viability, and recovered cell counts. In addition, one site submitted parallel samples for microarray analysis. The results of these studies and future planned studies will be presented.