Convenient absolute counts can enable researchers to determine whether changes in cell cycle and other functional parameters and biomarker expression are a result of drug treatments
Guava Technologies says its new Cell Cycle assay makes cell cycle analysis easier than ever before for applications in immunology, cancer drug discovery and cell health profiling.
Staining reagents are pre-combined in a single optimised format, eliminating the need for complex reagent preparation following cell fixation.
Moreover, the Guava Cell Cycle assay provides detailed protocols for use with either individual tubes or 96-well microtitre plates, thus minimising assay development time.
The Guava Cell Cycle assay's automated analysis capability displays results in both histogram and statistical formats, making it a convenient method of screening and optimising lead drug candidates for their ability to induce cell cycle arrest and to kill proliferating cells.
Together with Guava's Personal Cell Analysis system (PCA) and CellHealth profiling assays, the new Cell Cycle assay provides faster, easier cell analysis capabilities, right at the researcher's benchtop.
The Guava Cell Cycle assay uses the nuclear DNA stain, propidium iodide (PI), to directly discriminate cells at different stages of the cell cycle.
Incubation can be as short as only one hour.
Three histogram markers distinguish the G0/G1, S and G2/M cell cycle phases, while an optional fourth marker offers a way to identify apoptotic cells, cell aggregates or an internal standard.
Absolute cell counts are provided automatically.
Understanding the cell cycle and how different compounds affect it is an important area of study for immunologists and cancer researchers, and in drug discovery and bioprocess development.
Cells in different stages of cell cycle express different genes and proteins.
Hence in addition to determining viability and apoptotic cell fractions, every experiment involving cell populations should be normalised for cell cycle.
Accuracy and high user-to-user reproducibility of absolute cell counts are obtained directly as a standard feature without the need for reference beads.
Convenient absolute counts can enable researchers to determine whether changes in cell cycle and other functional parameters and biomarker expression are a result of drug treatments or are caused by changes in cell number due to cell proliferation or cell death.
Reference beads or separate counting devices are not needed for cell enumeration on the Guava.
"The ability to directly enumerate cells in suspension as well as to determine percentages of cells in the various phases of the cell cycle is a unique feature of Guava based assays," said Dianne Fishwild, director of application development at Guava Technologies.
"This latest assay expands our offering of sensitive single cell microcapillary cytometry assays for use with the Guava PCA Systems at the researcher's bench top.
"Use of our system can eliminate much of the guess work involved in working with cell populations.
"It is fast, easy to use, and minimises the amount of costly cells and reagents.
"The benefit is to lessen the time between experimental design and result, resulting in faster decisions and greater productivity".
A new application note describing the Guava Cell Cycle assay and its use in screening cytoactive compounds to determine cell cycle arrest is available from the Guava Technologies website.
