Method and apparatus for viable and nonviable prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell quantitation

摘要

A rapid method for the quantitation of various live cell types is described. This new cell fluorescence method correlates with other methods of enumerating cells such as the standard plate count, the methylene blue method and the slide viability technique. The method is particularly useful in several applications such as: a) quantitating bacteria in milk, yogurt, cheese, meat and other foods, b) quantitating yeast cells in brewing, fermentation and bread making, c) quantitating mammalian cells in research, food and clinical settings. The method is especially useful when both total and viable cell counts are required such as in the brewing industry. The method can also be employed to determine the metabolic activity of cells in a sample. The apparatus, device, and/or system used for cell quantitation is also disclosed.

主权项

1. A method for measuring metabolic activity in viable yeast cells, comprising: (a) providing a sample containing yeast cells, (b) contacting said sample containing yeast cells with a molecule or dye that is altered by metabolically active viable yeast cells into a detectably fluorescent form, wherein the molecule or dye is fluorescein diacetate or OREGON GREEN™ (2′,7′ difluorofluorescein); (c) measuring fluorescence of the molecule or dye that is altered into a detectably fluorescent form by the metabolically active viable yeast cells in said sample; and (d) repeating step (c) over a time course, wherein a change in fluorescence over the time course indicates a change in metabolic activity of viable yeast cells.