Temporal Tracking of Cell Cycle Progression Using Flow Cytometry without the Need for Synchronization

Summary

This protocol describes the use of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) uptake to permit the temporal tracking of cells that were in S phase at a specific point in time. Addition of DNA dyes and antibody labeling facilitates detailed analysis of the fate of the S phase cells at later times.

Abstract

This protocol describes a method to permit the tracking of cells through the cell cycle without requiring the cells to be synchronized. Achieving cell synchronization can be difficult for many cell systems. Standard practice is to block cell cycle progression at a specific stage and then release the accumulated cells producing a wave of cells progressing through the cycle in unison. However, some cell types find this block toxic resulting in abnormal cell cycling, or even mass death. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) uptake can be used to track the cell cycle stage of individual cells. Cells incorporate this synthetic thymidine analog, while synthesizing new DNA during S phase. By providing BrdU for a brief period it is possible to mark a pool of cells that were in S phase while the BrdU was present. These cells can then be tracked through the remainder of the cell cycle and into the next round of replication, permitting the duration of the cell cycle phases to be determined without the need to induce a potentially toxic cell cycle block. It is also possible to determine and correlate the expression of both internal and external proteins during subsequent stages of the cell cycle. These can be used to further refine the assignment of cell cycle stage or assess effects on other cellular functions such as checkpoint activation or cell death.

Introduction

The assessment of cell cycle features and changes that occur in cells during cell cycle progression is fundamental to understanding many aspects of biology, particularly cancer biology. Many agents in development for the treatment of malignancies have profound effects on cell cycle progression or induce cell death via cell cycle dependent-mechanisms. In order to study cell cycle dynamics or cells in a particular phase of the cell cycle, it is usual to synchronize cells. However synchronization methods can have detrimental effects on the cells being studied, potentially confounding the results obtained.¹ Recently the use of fluorescently tagged proteins that....

Protocol

The protocol described here uses the acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line NALM6 but can be applied to other cell types.

1. Solutions and Reagents

1. Complete RPMI
   1. Add 56 ml fetal calf serum (FCS) and 5.5 ml of 200 mM L-glutamine to a 500 ml bottle of RPMI-1640 medium.
2. BrdU Stock Solution
   1. Prepare 32.5 mM BrdU (10 mg/ml) in Dulbecco's Phosphate Buffered Saline (DPBS).
3. BrdU Complete RPMI
   1. Add 6.2 µl of BrdU stock solution to 10 ml of Complete RPMI.
4. DNase Solution
   1. Prepare 1 mg DNase/ml in DPBS.

Results

This methodology can be used to obtain a range of information. A few applications are outlined here.

Assessment of the duration of the cell cycle

To determine the time required for cells to transit through the cell cycle, cells are harvested at various time points following the BrdU pulse. The intervals between assessments can be adapted to the particular cells being analyzed. Hematopoietic cell lines were assessed every hour over a 24 hr period in the absence of an.......

Discussion

The ability to analyze the cell cycle is important for the understanding of cancer biology and the mechanism of action of both drugs and genes that influence cell proliferation and growth. While there are a multitude of assays that reportedly measure cell proliferation, the majority only provide a measure that indicates the number cells present. These include assays that measure cell number by direct visualization and counting, metabolic activity or ATP concentration. The main advantage of many of these methods is that t.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
APC BrdU Flow Kit	BD Biosciences	552598	Contains BrdU antibody, 7-AAD and BD Cytofix/Cytoperm Buffer (referred to as Fixation Buffer)
BD Cytoperm Permeabilization Buffer Plus	BD Biosciences	561651	Referred to as Permeabilization buffer
BD Perm/Wash Buffer	BD Biosciences	554723	Referred to as Wash buffer
DNase	Sigma	D-4513
BD Falcon 12 x 75 mm FACS tubes	BD Biosciences	352008
BD Pharmingen Stain Buffer	BD Biosciences	554656
BD LSR FORTESSA flow cytometer	BD Biosciences	FORTESSA
Pipetman	Gilson	P2, P20, P100, P1000
RPMI 1,640 w/o L-Gln 500 ml	Lonza	12-167F
DPBS	Lonza	17-512F
Fetal Bovine Serum	FisherBiotec	FBS-7100113
L-Glutamine	Sigma	G7513-100ML
5-Bromo-2′-deoxyuridine	Sigma	B5002-1G
Falcon TC 150 cm2 vented Flasks	BD Biosciences	355001
Pipettes 25 ml	Greiner	760180
Aersol Pipettes 200 µl	Interpath	24700
Aersol Pipettes 1 ml	Interpath	24800
Centrifuge	Spintron	GT-175R
CO2 incubator	Binder	C 150
AF488 anti-Histone H3 Phospho (Ser10) Antibody	Cell Signalling	9708S
Phospho-Chk2 (Thr68) (C13C1) Rabbit mAb	Cell Signalling	2197S
Phospho-Chk1 (Ser345) (133D3) Rabbit mAb	Cell Signalling	2348S
NALM6	DSMZ	ACC-128