AUTOMATIC CELL-CULTURE QUANTITATION WITH TRAKCELL - APPLICATION TO CELL TOXICOLOGY AND DIFFERENTIATION

An automated system, TRAKCELL, was developed for the quantitation of c ells in culture. It enabled cell counting, classification according to morphological cell characteristics and measurement of cell proliferat ion and differentiation. The system was tested on the toxic effect of ascorbic acid on rat brain catecholaminergic neurons in primary cultur e. In parallel, the effects of nerve growth factor, dexamethasone and forskolin on cell differentiation were studied using rat pheochromocyt oma PC12 cells. The results show that the system permits rapid and rep roducible measurements of cell density and of the morphological change s observed following various drug treatments.