CALIBRATION OF FLUORESCENCE INTENSITIES TO QUANTIFY ANTIBODY-BINDING SURFACE DETERMINANTS OF CELL SUBPOPULATIONS BY FLOW-CYTOMETRY

Quantitative indirect immunofluorescence analysis by flow cytometry was used to determine the mean number of antibody binding sites per cell in a small subpopulation of rat brain cells expressing low levels of a cell surface differentiation antigen recognized by monoclonal antibody (Mab) RB13-6 (Kindler-Rohrborn et al.: Differentiation 30:53-60, 1985). For these non-disjunct distributions of fluorescence intensities, the cutoff border between antigen-positive and antigen-negative cells was defined by a statistical test. To eliminate the influence of accidental disturbances leading to incorrect statistical decisions, the curves for antigen-negative cells were fitted according to cell number and shape. The flow cytometer was calibrated with the use of a clonal cell line for which the average number of Mab RB13-6 binding sites per cell had previously been determined by radioimmunoassay and Scatchard-plot analysis. Using this analytical procedure, both the proportion of Mab binding brain cells and the mean number of Mab binding sites per Mab binding cell could be determined as a function of developmental stage.