Microfabricated flow cytometers can detect, count, and analyze cells or particles using microfluidics and electronics to give impedance-based characterization. Such systems are being developed to provide simple, low-cost, label-free, and portable solutions for cell analysis. Recent work using microfabricated systems has demonstrated the capability to analyze micro-organisms, erythrocytes, leukocytes, and animal and human cell lines. Multifrequency impedance measurements can give multiparametric, high-content data that can be used to distinguish cell types. New combinations of microfluidic sample handling design and microscale flow phenomena have been used to focus and position cells within the channel for improved sensitivity. Robust designs will enable focusing at high flowrates while reducing requirements for control over multiple sample and sheath flows. Although microfluidic impedance-based flow cytometers have not yet or may never reach the extremely high throughput of conventional flow cytometers, the advantages of portability, simplicity, and ability to analyze single cells in small populations are, nevertheless, where chip-based cytometry can make a large impact. ' 2010International Society for Advancement of Cytometry Key terms microfluidics; impedance characterization; label free; single cell analysis; hydrodynamic focusing; sorting MICROFLUIDIC flow cytometers can bring many advantages to the field of flow cytometry (FCM). Compared to typical flow cytometry channel sizes, the miniaturized dimensions permit microfluidic systems to analyze single cells, to identify cellular variability in gene expression, or drug response within a cell population. Chipbased cytometers can have lower size and costs than conventional benchtop instruments, and may be portable. Today, the developmental aim for microfluidic systems is to reach the same sensitivity and capability for multiparametric analyses as delivered by conventional flow cytometers. Many efforts have been made to improve existing devices and to create new miniaturized high-end instruments. Microfluidic chips can incorporate on-chip cell preparation, cell culture, lysis, and modules for optical, electrophoretic, or genomic analysis (1). They are also suitable for analysis of cells in suspension as well as adherent cells.Miniaturized cytometry devices will have high impact in the development of point-of-care devices in developing countries. Accurate CD4 1 T-cell counts are used to monitor human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, and various thresholds of the number of CD4 1 T lymphocytes per ll of whole blood are used to start antiretroviral therapy (2-5). A simple, single-purpose CD4 cell counting device, which does not require standard laboratory equipment or trained laboratory personnel, could help some of the 33 million HIV-infected people worldwide monitor the stage of infection (6)(7)(8). In this application, increased analysis throughput is a secondary concern compared to increased sensitivity and specificity. Portable, miniatu...

IntroductionAn efficient and reliable method to estimate plant cell viability, especially of pollen, is important for plant breeding research and plant production processes. Pollen quality is determined by classical methods, like staining techniques or in vitro pollen germination, each having disadvantages with respect to reliability, analysis speed, and species dependency. Analysing single cells based on their dielectric properties by impedance flow cytometry (IFC) has developed into a common method for cellular characterisation in microbiology and medicine during the last decade. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the potential of IFC in plant cell analysis with the focus on pollen.MethodDeveloping and mature pollen grains were analysed during their passage through a microfluidic chip to which radio frequencies of 0.5 to 12 MHz were applied. The acquired data provided information about the developmental stage, viability, and germination capacity. The biological relevance of the acquired IFC data was confirmed by classical staining methods, inactivation controls, as well as pollen germination assays.ResultsDifferent stages of developing pollen, dead, viable and germinating pollen populations could be detected and quantified by IFC. Pollen viability analysis by classical FDA staining showed a high correlation with IFC data. In parallel, pollen with active germination potential could be discriminated from the dead and the viable but non-germinating population.ConclusionThe presented data demonstrate that IFC is an efficient, label-free, reliable and non-destructive technique to analyse pollen quality in a species-independent manner.

When examined, the expansion of many stem cell classes has been shown to be facilitated by mechanically-regulated calcium entry from the extracellular space that also helps direct their developmental programs towards mechanosensitive tissues such as muscle, bone, and connective tissues. Cation channels of the transient receptor potential C class (TRPC) are the predominant conduit for calcium entry into proliferating myoblasts. Nonetheless, methods to non-invasively study this calcium-entry pathway are still in their infancy. Here we show that a microfluidic configuration of impedancebased flow cytometry (IFC) provides a method to detect TRP channel expression in cells at high throughput. Using this technology we discern changes in the IFC signal that correlates with the functional expression of TRPC1 channels and coincides with cell proliferation. Pharmacological agents, mechanical conditions or malignant states that alter the expression of TRPC1 channels are reflected in the IFC signal accordingly, whereas pharmacological agents that alter cation-permeation through TRPC1 channels, or ionophores that independently increase calcium entry across the membrane, have little effect. Our results suggest that IFC detects changes in whole-cell membrane organization associated with TRPC1 activation and surface expression, rather than cation permeation through the channel per se. IFC-based technologies thus have the potential to identify living stem cells in their earliest stages of expansion without staining or chemical fixation. V C 2014 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry

These results underline the potential of impedance spectroscopy flow cytometry as a valuable complement to other known cytometers and cell detection systems.