Apoptosis induced kinetic changes in autofluorescence of HL60 cells - application for singele cell analysis on chip

Natural cellular autofluorescence (AF) can be a useful tool to unravel intracellular pathophysiological processes and distinguish normal from diseased tissue. Many cellular metabolites exhibit autofluorescence, e.g. NAD(P)H and flavins, which colocalizes strongly within the mitochondria and in some extent to the lysosomes (1-6). Both components are actively involved in a number of metabolic processes within the cell and play an important role in the energy household of the cell. This paper presents a new method using AF to study apoptosis. Apoptosis or programmed cell death plays an important role in maintaining a homeostatic equilibrium between cell proliferation and cell death. Induction of apoptosis results in shrinkage of the cell and fragmentation into apoptotic bodies (7). AF intensity is first measured conventionally at the flow cytometer (FCM) and finally the results will be translated on to a microfluidic chip to perform single-cell analysis.