I am isolating cells from heart tissue. I would like to stain them and FACS them for different markers. However, I have many samples coming together and simply don't have enough time to stain them and to do FACS. Is there any way I can fix them and store them for 2 months for future use?
Hi,
If you want to store your cells for future use and they don't need to be viable for futher analysis, fixation with 4% PFA is an option. You can store fixed cells at 4°C for several weeks and probably up to 2 months. For longer storage periods I would recommend freezing your cells.
Good luck!
I would not recommend to store cells by any means. Freezing or fixation of cells will negatively affect the quality of subsequent FACS analysis. Find assistants to perform analysis of freshly isolated cells quickly. Otherwise, you have great risks to lose time and money.
I strongly agree to Dr. Kazansky. Freezing your cells or fixing them for long times before flow cytometry analysis will make you run a great risk.
Thank you all for the suggestions. I think, cryopreserving the cells is better option.
If you have never frozen these cells before I would run a test experiment though in which you compare fresh cells vs frozen cells just to be sure that you can still detect everything you want to look at and also that the expression patterns don't change. If there are substantial differences you will have to run them fresh in batches.
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