We have an Invitrogen Countess counter which works really well for most mammalian cell lines. However, it seems to be less accurate when enumerating small cells - especially with respect to their viability (it usually overestimates their viability compared to viability stain in flow cytometry).
I also have access to a ViCell (I've never used this) and, as mentioned, flow cytometers. Does anyone have any recommendations about counting cells using an instrument other than the Countess? Does anyone have any tips about sample processing or calibration of the Countess to get better results?
I have also had problems with the automated cell counters when working with small cells such as lymphocytes. In particular they are unable to discern viability. I have had much more success using a newer version of the Countess that has fluorescent capability. With the Countess II FL and propidium iodide as a viability marker, I have gotten results very, very similar to hemocytometer counts with trypan blue.
Thanks for your reply, Justin. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's seen this before. I think at one point our department was looking into bringing in the Countess II. Perhaps I will follow up on where that is at...
The LUNA-FL from Logos Biosystems count accurately splenocytes and thymocytes.
http://logosbio.com/download/pdf/Luna_FL_fluorescence_cell_counter_brochure.pdf
Hi, these kind of cells have been successfully counted using the CASY. As a first reference, you might want to take a look into the linked file below.
As CASY provides a set of application optimized capillaries, a setup should be possible to meet your requirements and accurately determine cell count and viability.
http://cellcounting.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/OLS-CASY-cells-and-particles-measured_01-2015.pdf
Great tip, Somo. Those instruments look pretty cool. Do you have any idea how much they cost?
Check this out:
https://chemometec.com/cell-counters/cell-counter-nc-200-nucleocounter/
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