TPP's Packed Cell Vol (PCV) tube enables a quick and reproducible method of cell counting based on cell Vol. A quick centrifuge of the cell suspension pipetted into a PCV tube reveals a packed cell pellet in the PCV capillary, which can be easily read with the aid of an Easy read ruler. This non-subjective method is superior to old-fashioned and labor intensive hemacytometer based counting.

Functional Features:

• Cell suspension sample can be directly quantitated without dilution
• Multiple samples can be assayed simultaneously
• Load and spin as many PCV tubes as your centrifuge rotor holds
• Quick and reproducible
• Cells can be spun down in 1 minute at 2500xg

Ergonomic Features:

• Reproducible measurements
• Graduated capillary model offers immediate quantitation
• For finer quantitation: The Easy Read Ruler  is used with non-graduated PCV tubes
• Eliminates expensive automated counters / fragile slides
• Avoids subjective microscope counting

Quality Assurance:

• Gamma-sterilized, DNAse/RNAse-Free, and pyrogen-Free
• Individually wrapped in peel-off plastic wrapper

Protocol Example:

• Uniformly mix cell suspension collected from TPP  flask/dish/bioreactor
• Pipet 1000µL of cell suspension into a PCV tube
• Spin multiple samples for 1 minute at 2500xg in a standard microcentrifuge
• Record pellet Vol and compare to pre-generated standard curve of cell numbers to packed cell Vol.
• Standard curve needs to be set up only once per cell line
• Pipet pre-determined cell suspension Vols (dilutions) into a hemacytometer
• Calculate and record the number of live cells for each concentration
• Pipet the identical Vols into the PCV tube, centrifuge and record the numeric in the capillary that corresponds to pellet Vol
• Plot the hemacytometer readings vs. the PCV readings for each Vol
• This Standard Curve doesn't need to be redone for the same cell line and moving forward the cell suspension harvested from TPP flasks/dishes/plates only need to be centrifuged in PCV tubes and assayed for cell pellet measurements

High density of cells

• With a very high density of the cells, the samples must not be diluted. You might simply reduce the sample Vol. Samples from the same series should be treated accordingly. 
• For bacteria measurement the parameters have to be adjusted, for example higher g-force, smaller Vol, etc.
• Micro centrifuges with swing-out rotors are preferable.

 

Order#	Description	Quantity
TP87005	PCV Cell Counting Tubes (with capillary graduations only)	50/pk
TP87007	PCV Cell Counting Tubes (no graduations)	50/pk
TP87008	TPP Cap for PCV Tubes	50/pk
TP87010	Easy Read Ruler	1

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