In science, as in many other disciplines, seeing is believing.
Fluorescent cell staining is a common and reliable technique to visualize many different aspects of a cell’s state. There are many stains which can report if a cell is viable, dead or dying, or expressing a particular surface protein or reporter gene.
The LeviCellTM System provides three modes of light detection: brightfield, as well as fluorescence in both green and red excitation and emission spectra. This makes commonly used viability stains such as Acridine Orange (AO) and Propidium Iodide (PI) detectable during levitation. Researchers can use fluorescence to easily see where the live and dead cell fractions are respectively positioned inside the LeviCell cartridge. Staining can also assist in setting the appropriate cutoff when collecting the live cell fraction.
In this Technical Note, we review some of the commonly used cellular stains and provide guidelines for coupling these with the LeviCell system. When getting started with the LeviCell, this can be a great way to visualize how your desired cell population responds to levitation. It can also help to show you, very clearly, the power of viable cell enrichment with Levitation Technology!
