METHOD FOR IDENTIFYING SUBCLASSES OF CELLS IN WHOLE BLOOD

摘要

A method for identifying suclasses of cells of interest in a blood sample by flow cytometry which comprises the steps of: mixing an aliquot of said blood sample with an aqueous reagent composition to form a suspension, wherein the reagent composition comprises a dye compound which stains the ribonucleic acid of cells in the subclass of interest, a buffer solution, and a sphering agent which is a zwitterionic surfactant and which does not precipitate said dye; passing said suspension substantially a cell at a time through an area of focused optical illumination; detecting the light scattered and light fluoresced by each cell; and differentiating said cells of said subclass of interest at least in part on the basis of said scattered and fluoresced light.