Forward light scatter is a simple measure of T-cell activation and proliferation but is not universally suited for doublet discrimination

Abstract

Following activation by antigen, T cells enter the cell cycle in stages that can be defined with flow cytometric markers. We show that these markers include the increase of forward light scatter width (FSC-W) signal and the ratio of FSC area/peak. This change in light scatter precedes the first cell division and may reflect blast transformation. We show that the FSC-W parameter can be used, alone or in combination with other activation markers, to monitor the relative and absolute numbers of T cells responding to a proliferative stimulus. In contrast to dye dilution assays, the FSC-W method does not allow discrimination between consecutive cell divisions, but it has several advantages and co..