Solid Tissue Dispersal for Cytokinetic Analyses

The dispersal of solid tissues into a single-cell suspension has become an integral component of many current techniques for quantitative cytokinetic analysis of both normal and neoplastic tissues. This is particularly evident in the application of flow cytometric (FCM) procedures for the quantitative analysis of DNA content (see ref. 36 ), measurements of intracellular components [i.e., bromodeoxyuridine incorporated into DNA (15 )], and identification and purification of subpopulations for subsequent cytokinetic studies (42 ,71 ). In addition most assay systems for quantitation of the fraction of clonogenic cells, as well as many biochemical/molecular analyses (i.e., incorporation of tritiated thymidine, [³ H]-TdR, into DNA), are done on a per cell basis, and thus utilize cells in suspension.