Centrifugal elutriation of human lymphoid cells: synchronization and separation of aneuploid cells into diploid and tetraploid populations

Both normal and leukemic human lymphoid cell lines were separated into populations corresponding to different positions in the cell cycle by centrifugal elutriation. Each population was analyzed for cell concentration, cell volume, 3H]thymidine incorporation, percentage S phase by autoradiography, and percent G1, S, and G2/M phases by flow cytometry. The smallest cells, collected at the lowest flow rate, were in G1 phase. Cells collected at increasing flow rates progressively increased in volume and represented distinct positions in the cell cycle transition from G1 phase, through S phase, and into G2/M phase. The purity of the G1 population varied according to cell load. One hundred percent of cells were recovered and cells collected in G1- and S-phase populations proliferated in culture with patterns characteristic of synchronized cells. An aneuploidy leukemia cell line, CEM, was separated into near-diploid and near-tetraploid populations by centrifugal elutriation. This method of cell separation provides large numbers of human lymphoid cells at different positions in the cell cycle for investigating the relationship between the cell cycle and various surface membrane and metabolic properties of cells. Aneuploid leukemia and lymphoma cells can be separated by centrifugal elutriation into populations which contain different numbers of chromosomes for comparisons of their biologic properties.