The Effects of Flow Cytometry Based Cell Sorting: A Metabolomics Study

Abstract

Cell sorting is a common technique that is used to create a highly purified population for downstream analysis. As cells are isolated for multiple other processes, evaluating the effects of sorting is crucial. Prior studies have indicated there are no genomic or transcriptomic immediate of the cells but there may be metabolomic changes. In this study cells were sorted into two collection tubes, methanol, and PBS in order to stimulate immediate and post spin fixation. After sorting the cells displayed no differences in cell cycle state, showing that cellular division does not change post sorting. An immediate quenching of the metabolism by sorting into methanol is necessary to capture the better biological representation of aldehydes present within the cell. A more delayed quenching like sorting into PBS is useful when measuring non aldehyde based metabolomics, such as amino acids or energy cycles.