Table 1.
Performance of spectral flow cytometry (SFC) vs. mass cytometry (MC) for the study of innate myeloid cells.
| FEATURE | SFC | MC |
|---|---|---|
| Panel design (>20 markers) for IMC | Complex | Simple |
| Cell size/complexity measurement | Yes | No |
| Autofluorescence | Yes | No |
| Single stained controls required | Yes | Advised |
| Measurement throughput | ≈ 6 min/106 cells | ≈ 113 min/106 cells |
| Recovery (median) | ≈ 53.1% | ≈ 26.8% |
|
Staining resolution
(% markers with median AOF<15%) |
Good (81%; 17/21 markers) |
Good (81%; 17/21 markers) |
|
Intra-measurement variability
(% markers with higher median %CV PRP; median %CV) |
Lower (0%; 0/21 markers; %CV 42.5%) |
Higher (100%; 21/21 markers; %CV 68.0%) |
|
Reproducibility across different days
(% markers with higher inter-donor variability) |
Higher (23.8%; 5/21 markers) |
Lower (66.7%; 14/21) |
AOF, Average Overlap Frequency; CV; coefficient of variation; IMC, innate myeloid cells; MC, mass cytometry; PRP, positive reference population; SFC, spectral flow cytometry.