Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Chapter 2 Principles of flow cytometry: An overview

2001; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0091-679x(01)63006-1

0091-679X

Alice L. Givan,

Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies

This chapter presents a cohesive overview of the theory of flow cytometric instrumentation; the chapter cites a selection of representative references from the literature and describes a generalized flow cytometer in an attempt to provide an introduction into the field—with the background necessary for a critical understanding of the strengths, pitfalls, and potential of this technique and its applications. Flow cytometry is a system for detecting and then analyzing the light signals generated by particles as they flow in a liquid stream past an illuminating beam. By this definition, it is apparent that a chapter providing a description of flow cytometry will involve a confluence of the disciplines of electronics (detecting); computational data analysis (analyzing); optics (light signals, illuminating beam); and fluidics (flow in a liquid stream). The power of flow cytometry comes from rapid, objective, and quantitative computing, allowing calculations, correlations, and statistical conclusions from those few numbers derived from each of many cells.