Post by Andreas Brown

For many years, researchers have been relying on flow cytometry to accurately measure the cell cycle distribution of cell populations. In most cases, only one fluorescent dye for visualizing the DNA content is applied, for instance PI, Hoechst or 7AAD. This approach, however, does not allow for an accurate quantification of the cycling status, since especially the G1/S and S/G2 boundaries have to be estimated. By treating cells beforehand with nucleotide analogues, such as BrdU or EdU, investigators can add a second dimension into their analysis and select for actively replicating cells, a population which cannot be visualized in a standard cell cycle staining panel.