The challenge
Stem cells are undifferentiated cells being used these days in a therapeutic nature to take on the properties of cells in an area of need. Injecting stem cells in organs, for example, has been used to generate new cells of those specific organs. This new focus in regenerative medicine has given new attention to several aspects of stem cells, inclouding quantification, or concentration, as well as viability.
Below are the results of a stem cell sample where it was important to know the concentration of different size cells. Please see the video below and also see our application note on how the Particle Insight measures particle concentration.
Applicable measures |
Measures used
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Equivalent Circular Area Diameter
Besides concentration of cells by size, it was important to quantify the amount of cellular debris in the sample. This was done by both size and shape classification
As can be expected, the particle size of stem cells are very uniform. It was important to note that the very small particles, below 3 microns, was cellular debris and was identified via the thumbnail images.
As expected, the majority of the cells were very round (high circuliarity). The slightly lower circularity particles were mostly the cellunar debris. When correlating size vs circularity, it was evident that the smaller particles, debris, had the lower circularity values and the larger partices, cells, had a higher circularity value.