title: Malaria-infected erythrocytes serve as biological standards to ensure reliable and consistent scoring of micronucleated erythrocytes by flow cytometry.
abstract: A procedure for optimizing the configuration of flow cytometers for enumerating micronucleated erythrocytes is described. The method is based on the use of a biological model for micronucleated erythrocytes, the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei. P. berghei endows target cells of interest (erythrocytes) with a micronucleus-like DNA content. Unlike micronuclei, parasitized red blood cells have a homogenous DNA content, and can be very prevalent in circulation. These characteristics make malaria-infected erythrocytes extremely well suited for optimizing instrument setup on a daily basis. The experiment described herein was designed to test the hypothesis that malaria-infected erythrocytes can greatly enhance the consistency with which flow cytometers are configured for micronucleus analyses, and thereby minimize intra- and interexperimental variation. Data collected over the course of several months, on two different flow cytometers, supports the premise that malaria-infected blood represents a useful biological standard which helps ensure reliable and consistent flow cytometric enumeration of rare micronucleated erythrocytes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY, USA. sdert@mc.rochester.edu
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Dertinger
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Torous
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Tometsko
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Gasiewicz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002138:Calibration / Q000592:standards; D004900:Erythroblasts / Q000166:cytology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000469:parasitology*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008288:Malaria / Q000097:blood / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D015162:Micronucleus Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008954:Models, Biological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015588:Observer Variation; D010962:Plasmodium berghei / Q000166:cytology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results