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Concept
Cell counting
Summary
Cell counting is any of various methods for the counting or similar quantification of cells in the life sciences, including medical diagnosis and treatment. It is an important subset of cytometry, with applications in research and clinical practice. For example, the complete blood count can help a physician to determine why a patient feels unwell and what to do to help. Cell counts within liquid media (such as blood, plasma, lymph, or laboratory rinsate) are usually expressed as a number of cells per unit of volume, thus expressing a concentration (for example, 5,000 cells per milliliter).
Numerous procedures in biology and medicine require the counting of cells. By the counting of cells in a known small volume, the concentration can be mediated. Examples of the need for cell counting include:
In medicine, the concentration of various blood cells, such as red blood cells and white blood cells, can give crucial information regarding the health situation of a person (see: complete blood count).
In cell therapy, to control the dose of cells administered to a patient.
Similarly, the concentration of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens in the blood or in other bodily fluids can reveal information about the progress of an infectious disease and about the degree of success with which the immune system is dealing with the infection.
The cell concentration needs to be known for many experiments in molecular biology, in order to adjust accordingly the amount of reagents and chemicals that are to be applied in the experiment.
Studies that examine the growth rate of microorganisms (in other words, how fast they divide to create new cells) require cell counting.
Calculating the fraction of dead to live cells as a measure of cell viability, such as of cells exposed to poison.
There are several methods for cell counting. Some are primitive and do not require special equipment, thus can be done in any biological laboratory, whereas others rely on sophisticated electronic appliances.
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Coulter counter
A Coulter counter is an apparatus for counting and sizing particles suspended in electrolytes. The Coulter counter is the commercial term for the technique known as resistive pulse sensing or electrical zone sensing. The apparatus is based on the Coulter principle named after its inventor, Wallace H. Coulter. A typical Coulter counter has one or more microchannels that separate two chambers containing electrolyte solutions. As fluid that contains particles or cells is drawn through the microchannels, each particle causes a brief change to the electrical resistance of the liquid.
White blood cell
White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. White blood cells include three main subtypes; granulocytes, lymphocytes and monocytes. White cells is most preferred rather than the, white blood cells, because, they spend most of their time in the lymph or plasma. All white blood cells are produced and derived from multipotent cells in the bone marrow known as hematopoietic stem cells.
Complete blood count
A complete blood count (CBC), also known as a full blood count (FBC), is a set of medical laboratory tests that provide information about the cells in a person's blood. The CBC indicates the counts of white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, the concentration of hemoglobin, and the hematocrit (the volume percentage of red blood cells). The red blood cell indices, which indicate the average size and hemoglobin content of red blood cells, are also reported, and a white blood cell differential, which counts the different types of white blood cells, may be included.