Analysis of cell cycle subpopulations from cytometric data.
As a result of experimental error, measurements of the DNA content of cells from proliferating populations give rise to histograms in which the G1-phase, S-phase and G2-phase distributions overlap. A new method for distinguishing these subpopulations is proposed, based on a model in which the S-phase subpopulation is made up of a number of uniformly overlapping log-normal curves, whose composite has a rectangular central part and sloping ends. The ratio between certain parameters of the slopes and the height of the rectangle is shown to be closely related to the degree of overlap of the constituents by a defined cubic polynomial. It is then possible to calculate the numbers of cells in each of the three phases of the cell cycle, even when only a few hundred cells have been measured.
Department of Oral Pathology, University of Birmingham Dental School, England, U.K.
J W
JW
Rippin
J A
JA
Woolgar
D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D008954:Models, Biological