The use of carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) to monitor lymphocyte proliferation

Abstract

Carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) is an effective and popular means to monitor lymphocyte division. CFSE covalently labels long-lived intracellular molecules with the fluorescent dye, carboxyfluorescein. Thus, when a CFSE-labeled cell divides, its progeny are endowed with half the number of carboxyfluorescein-tagged molecules and thus each cell division can be assessed by measuring the corresponding decrease in cell fluorescence via Flow cytometry. The capacity of CFSE to label lymphocyte populations with a high fluorescent intensity of exceptionally low variance, coupled with its low cell toxicity, make it an ideal dye to measure cell division. Since it is a fluorescein-based dye it is also compatible with a broad range of other fluorochromes making it applicable to multi-color flow cytometry. This article describes the procedures typically used for labeling mouse lymphocytes for the purpose of monitoring up to 8 cell divisions. These labeled cells can be used both for in vitro and in vivo studies.