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A comparative study of U937 cell size changes during apoptosis initiation by flow cytometry, light scattering, water assay and electronic sizing

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Abstract

A decrease in flow cytometric forward light scatter (FSC) is commonly interpreted as a sign of apoptotic cell volume decrease (AVD). However, the intensity of light scattering depends not only on the cell size but also on its other characteristics, such as hydration, which may affect the scattering in the opposite way. That makes estimation of AVD by FSC problematic. Here, we aimed to clarify the relationship between light scattering, cell hydration (assayed by buoyant density) and cell size by the Coulter technique. We used human lymphoid cells U937 exposed to staurosporine, etoposide or hypertonic stress as an apoptotic model. An initial increase in FSC was found to occur in apoptotic cells treated with staurosporine and hypertonic solutions; it is accompanied by cell dehydration and is absent in apoptosis caused by etoposide that is consistent with the lack of dehydration in this case. Thus, the effect of dehydration on the scattering signal outweighs the effect of reduction in cell size. The subsequent FSC decrease, which occurred in parallel to accumulation of annexin-positive cells, was similar in apoptosis caused by all three types of inducers. We conclude that an increase, but not a decrease in light scattering, indicates the initial cell volume decrease associated with apoptotic cell dehydration.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Projects No. 15-04-00776a and No. 17-00-00364 KOMFI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St-Petersburg, Russia

    Valentina Yurinskaya, Nikolay Aksenov, Alexey Moshkov, Tatyana Goryachaya & Alexey Vereninov

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, OH, 44242, USA

    Michael Model

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  1. Valentina Yurinskaya
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  2. Nikolay Aksenov
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  3. Alexey Moshkov
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Correspondence to Alexey Vereninov.

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Yurinskaya, V., Aksenov, N., Moshkov, A. et al. A comparative study of U937 cell size changes during apoptosis initiation by flow cytometry, light scattering, water assay and electronic sizing. Apoptosis 22, 1287–1295 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-017-1406-y

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