Figure 1. Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) of muscle derived cells by aldehyde dehydrogenase activity.

Isolation of ALDH^lo and ALDH^hi subpopulations from cultured myoblasts was performed using FACS. (a) Dead cells were excluded from the isolation by detection of nuclear propidium iodide fluorescence. (b, c) ALDH^hi SCC^lo (high ALDH activity, low side scatter) cells were isolated from a heterogeneous population of myoblasts using DEAB, a potent inhibitor of ALDH, as a gating control. (d) Measurement of the FITC channel signal intensity of Aldefluor stained murine myoblasts and MDSCs demonstrated a shift in the distribution of signal intensity between the two populations, suggesting an increase in the median ALDH activity in MDSCs compared to myoblasts. (e) ALDH sorted murine muscle derived cells were preplated to demonstrate the increased yield of cells in later preplate cycles from ALDH^hi cells (up to PP5) compared to ALDH^lo cells. Cells were isolated from three mice labeled m1, m2, and m3. (* indicates p<0.05).