Rapid Flow Cytometric Method for Measuring Mitochondrial Membrane Potential, Respiratory Burst Activity, and Intracellular Thiols of Human Whole Blood Leukocytes

Identifying key perturbations of redox regulatory mechanisms may help to understand stress-related disease processes. Currently, flow cytometry allows the functional characterisation of redox changes that occur in different cellu- lar compartments: changes in mitochondrial membrane potential, respiratory burst activity, and intracellular thiol levels are measurable in live white blood cells. However, flow cytometric techniques generally require leukocyte fraction isola- tion, followed by re-suspension and counting. The purpose of the study was to develop a rapid cytofluorimetric assay to measure the redox triplet in peripheral leukocytes without preliminary isolation.