Development of a single‐cell X‐ray fluorescence flow cytometer |
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Authors: | Andrew M Crawford Patrick Kurecka Tsz Kwan Yim Claire Kozemchak Aniruddha Deb Lubomír Dostál Cheng-Jun Sun Dale L Brewe Raul Barrea James E Penner-Hahn |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109-1055, USA;2. Department of Biophysics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109-1055, USA;3. X-ray Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 4. South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL60439, USA;5. Department of Physics, DePaul University, Chicago, IL60604, USA |
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Abstract: | An X‐ray fluorescence flow cytometer that can determine the total metal content of single cells has been developed. Capillary action or pressure was used to load cells into hydrophilic or hydrophobic capillaries, respectively. Once loaded, the cells were transported at a fixed vertical velocity past a focused X‐ray beam. X‐ray fluorescence was then used to determine the mass of metal in each cell. By making single‐cell measurements, the population heterogeneity for metals in the µM to mM concentration range on fL sample volumes can be directly measured, a measurement that is difficult using most analytical methods. This approach has been used to determine the metal composition of 936 individual bovine red blood cells (bRBC), 31 individual 3T3 mouse fibroblasts (NIH3T3) and 18 Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) cells with an average measurement frequency of ~4 cells min?1. These data show evidence for surprisingly broad metal distributions. Details of the device design, data analysis and opportunities for further sensitivity improvement are described. |
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Keywords: | flow cytometry X‐ray fluorescence single cell metallome homeostasis |
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