SINGLE CELL ANALYSIS USING CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

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Abstract
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) applied to the analysis of single cells makes possible the study of the composition of the building block of life, the cell. CE is uniquely suited for the analysis of single cells because ultrasmall samples can be injected, separated, and detected. For instance, CE is capable of detecting femtomole (10−15 mole) to attomole (10−18 mole) quantities from nanoliter (10−9 liter) sample sizes. [1] 1. Floyd , P. D. , Moroz , L. L. , Gillette , R. and Sweedler , J. V. 1998. Anal. Chem., 70: 2243–2247. View all references Model systems of relatively large invertebrate neural cells were initially studied by CE; 1-12 View all references however, CE has recently been used to study small cells found in mammals such as erythrocytes, 13-22 View all references lymphocytes, 23-25 View all references adrenomedullary cells, 26-27 View all references pancreatic cells, 28-29 View all references and various other mammalian cells. 30-33 View all references It has also been used to analyze single plant cells. 34-35 View all references Individual differences are discernible by studying the contents of single cells. Because variations in both the types and amounts of compounds present in single cells taken from the same sample demonstrate cellular uniqueness and complexity, a better understanding of cellular function can be achieved using CE.