Laser flow measurements of scattering and fluorescence from cell nuclei in the presence of increasing Mg++ concentrations

Cell membrane-dependent chromatin condensation

It is shown by means of flow cytometry that during several seconds after cell membrane damage by a non-ionic detergent in physiologically relevant buffer solution, the chromatin of mouse thymocyte nuclei undergoes a drastic decondensation, which is revealed by a sharp increase of binding of DNA-specific fluorochromes (olivomycin or propidium iodide) and of DNA accessibility to DNAse I digestion. A similar change is observed in dead cells. Roughly half of this decondensation can be prevented by lowering the pH of the outside medium to the level known to be inside the cells; the other half remains thus far unexplained (divalent cations and the difference between small anion species seem not to be involved). The approach is based on a novel observation that fixation by formaldehyde conserves chromatin structure before the action of detergent. Flow cytometric assay is proposed for monitoring these condensation/decondensation events in media of different composition. In addition, a new approach to viable/dead cell determination, which has the advantage of immediately fixing the cell state and preserving it for a reasonably long time, is proposed.

Effect of aniosmotic media on the volume of the T-lymphocyte nucleus

Time-resolved measurements of the nuclear volume response of human peripheral T-lymphocytes, under aniosmotic conditions, are presented. In the experiments slit scanning FlowCytometry methods were used. We propose an extension to the standard solid viscoelastic model to interpret the observed dynamical behavior of the nucleus. It is shown that experimental and theoretical evidence indicates a passive nuclear response merely induced by a mechanical link (i.e., the cytoskeleton) between the cell membrane and the nuclear envelope. Implications of this work to the field of cellular mechanics and cytoskeletal rheology are surveyed.

Chromatin organization in isolated nuclei: flow cytometric characterization employing forward and perpendicular light scatter

Flow cytometric perpendicular and forward light scatters have been employed to evaluate whether the changes in chromatin organization due to ionic strength, Mg++ concentration and pH, visible in electron microscopy, can be monitored by flow cytometry. The average intensity of the perpendicular light scatter signal increased as nuclear chromatin became decondensed by lowering the ionic strength or releasing H1 histone at low pH values. These results indicate that flow cytometry signals and in particular the perpendicular light scatter allow the detection of the conformational transitions in chromatin and may therefore be useful for studying cell cycle associated morphological changes in isolated nuclei.