[In vitro studies of the cell cycle of mouse myelomonocytic leukemia using a fluorescence activated cell sorter and...

Cell cycle and various phase time of mouse myelomonocytic leukemia cells were studied in vitro with Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS 420, Becton-Dikinson FACS Systems, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) in testing cellular DNA content and with autoradiography. At the same time, doubling time was calculated by counting the number of cells cultured in vitro within 6 days following implantation. According to the cellular DNA content, the proportions of various cell phases in the whole cell population were as follows: G1, S and G2 plus M phases take up 30.5%, 47.9% and 21.6%. Basing on autoradiography and direct counting, the cell number, the cell cycle, duration of various cell phases and doubling time were as follows: LI = 98.0%, MI = 1.7 +/- 0.9%, TG1 = 4.9 hrs, TS = 8.0 hrs, TG2 = 2.8 hrs, Tm = 0.3 hr, TC = 16.0 hrs, TD = 17.0 hrs. FACS assay showed that the duration of various cell phases are quite similar to that calculated by autoradiography. Therefore a simple and rapid FACS method may be widely used in the studies of cell cycle instead of autoradiography if estimating computer program is available.