What's hidden in cumulative BrdU labeling data?

ROST FABIAN; CHARA OSVALDO; RODRIGO-ALBORS AIDA; DEUTSCH ANDREAS; BRUSCH LUTZ; TANAKA ELLY M

Dresden

Conferencia; 7th CRTD Summer Conference on Regenerative Medicine; 2013

Cumulative BrdU labeling is a standard method to measure the cell cycle lengths and the S Phase duration in anatomically defined populations [Nowakowski, Lewin & Miller, 1 989. J Neurocytol. 1 8: 311 31 8.]. The data analysis involves non linear fitting of the BrdU data by means of a mathematical model. Here we extend the standard method by, firstly, providing a suiting fit algorithm and, secondly, by estimating the errors of the results. We then investigate how multiple sub populations cycling at different cell cycle lengths would shape the BrdU data. We propose a method aimed to deduce the number of cycling populations from the experimental BrdU data in terms of the Akaike information criterion. Finally, we show preliminary results of the method applied in the context of Axolotl spinal cord regeneration.