Simultaneous assessment of autophagy and apoptosis using multispectral imaging cytometry

Multiple stress pathways result in the induction of autophagy and apoptosis. Current methods (e.g., protein gel blot, microscopy) do not offer quantitative single-cell resolution, thus making it difficult to discern if these pathways are mutually exclusive or, in some situations, cooperative in executing cell death. We report a novel method that enables high-throughput, high-content assessment of LC3 puncta and caspase-3 cleavage at the single cell level.