Flow cytometric quantification of apoptosis and proliferation in mixed lymphocyte culture

The one-way mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) is the classic culture used for studying the allogenic immunoresponse in vitro, but stimulator and responder cell identifications and quantification of apoptotic or proliferative responder cells are unreliable.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were labeled with 5- (and 6-) carboxy fluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) and stimulated with allogenic unlabeled irradiated cells in unidirectional cultures. Apoptosis was determined by the 7-aminoactinomycin D technique, and the absolute number of each cell population was calculated by adding a fixed number of cells stained with propidium iodide as the reference standard for each test.

CFSE labeling of cells under different cultures did not affect the results of proliferation or apoptosis. Data of apoptosis obtained with this method were comparable to those of the monoclonal antibody technique, and the proliferation level determined by [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation or counting the number of proliferative living cells, as proposed in this method, showed a good correlation.

The method presented in this report allows the simultaneous determination of apoptosis and proliferation in MLCs and the analysis of cell phenotype, thereby avoiding the use of radioactivity. This assay opens new perspectives for a better understanding of the mechanisms implied in the establishment or break of tolerance to the graft in solid organ transplants.