Use of flow cytometry for high-throughput cell population estimates in brain tissue

The large size of primate brains is an impediment to obtaining high-resolution cell number maps of the cortex in humans and non-human primates. We present a rapid, flow cytometry-based cell counting method that can be used to estimate cell numbers from homogenized brain tissue samples comprising the entire cortical sheet. The new method, called the flow fractionator, is based on the isotropic fractionator (IF) method (Herculano-Houzel and Lent, 2005), but substitutes flow cytometry analysis for manual, microscope analysis using a Neubauer counting chamber. We show that our flow cytometry-based method for total cell estimation in homogenized brain tissue provides comparable data to that obtained using a counting chamber on a microscope. The advantages of the flow fractionator over existing methods are improved precision of cell number estimates and improved speed of analysis.