Detection of Drug-induced Apoptosis by Flow Cytometry after Alkaline Extraction of Ethanol Fixed Cells.

A new flow cytometric method was developed to detect apoptotic cells with fragmented DNA and to determine cell cycle distribution of viable cells, in the same sample, by propidium iodide staining. Apoptosis, in HT58 human B lymphoma cells, was induced by etoposide and/or by staurosporine. Using appropriate alkaline solutions (between 1-10 mN NaOH in 150 mM saline) followed by neutralization with buffer solution, the fragmented DNA can be extracted quantitatively from ethanol fixed cells.