Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (512 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
Technique using an instrument system for making, processing, and displaying one or more measurements on individual cells obtained from a cell suspension. Cells are usually stained with one or more fluorescent dyes specific to cell components of interest, e.g., DNA, and fluorescence of each cell is measured as it rapidly transverses the excitation beam (laser or mercury arc lamp). Fluorescence provides a quantitative measure of various biochemical and biophysical properties of the cell, as well as a basis for cell sorting. Other measurable optical parameters include light absorption and light scattering, the latter being applicable to the measurement of cell size, shape, density, granularity, and stain uptake.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Cytofluorometry, Flow; Cytofluorometries, Flow; Flow Cytofluorometries; Flow Cytofluorometry; Cytometry, Flow; Cytometries, Flow; Flow Cytometries; Flow Microfluorimetry.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Cell Separation; Cytophotometry
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 139,355 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Flow Cytometry” (counts retrieved 2026-11-04). 10,735 of them (7.7%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2010-2019 with 51,086 records.
Reviews account for 4,008 records (2.9%) and meta-analyses for 31. Randomized controlled trials number 830 (0.6%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 31,965 |
| 2000-2009 | 45,569 |
| 2010-2019 | 51,086 |
| 2020 onward | 10,735 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 4,008 | 2.9% |
| Meta-analyses | 31 | 0.0% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 830 | 0.6% |
Method: PubMed query "Flow Cytometry"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-11-04.
Reading the evidence in diagnostics and medical technology
A test or device is judged by how well it detects a condition, how often it gives false alarms or misses cases, and whether using it improves outcomes for people. Accuracy depends on who is tested and how common the condition is, so a test that performs well in a specialist hospital can perform differently in the community. Check the reference standard, the population studied, the sensitivity and specificity and whether results were confirmed in a separate group.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-high-scale cytometry-based cellular interaction mapping | 2025 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 12 | cc by PMID 40775086 · DOI · PMC12446065 |
| Flow Cytometry: Advances, Challenges and Trends | 2026 | Review article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 9 | cc by PMID 41311164 · DOI · PMC12706142 |
| Nano-Flow Cytometry-Guided Discrimination and Separation of Human Cytomegalovirus Virions and Extracellular Vesicles | 2025 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 7 | cc by PMID 40314077 · DOI · PMC12046292 |
Ultra-high-scale cytometry-based cellular interaction mapping [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Cellular interactions are of fundamental importance, orchestrating organismal development, tissue homeostasis and immunity.
- Closing excerpt
- Our scalable framework can be applied a posteriori to existing cytometry datasets or incorporated into newly designed cytometry-based studies to map cellular interactions with a broad range of applications from fundamental biology to applied biomedicine.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (145 words)
Cellular interactions are of fundamental importance, orchestrating organismal development, tissue homeostasis and immunity. Recently, powerful methods that use single-cell genomic technologies to dissect physically interacting cells have been developed. However, these approaches are characterized by low cellular throughput, long processing times and high costs and are typically restricted to predefined cell types. Here we introduce Interact-omics, a cytometry-based framework to accurately map cellular landscapes and cellular interactions across all immune cell types at ultra-high resolution and scale. We demonstrate the utility of our approach to study kinetics, mode of action and personalized response prediction of immunotherapies, and organism-wide shifts in cellular composition and cellular interaction dynamics following infection in vivo. Our scalable framework can be applied a posteriori to existing cytometry datasets or incorporated into newly designed cytometry-based studies to map cellular interactions with a broad range of applications from fundamental biology to applied biomedicine.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 40775086 · DOI · PMC12446065
Flow Cytometry: Advances, Challenges and Trends [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Flow cytometry is a versatile analytical technology for measuring physical and molecular characteristics of individual cells or particles in suspension.
- Closing excerpt
- Addressing these challenges will be essential for cytometry to continue driving biological discovery and clinical applications in the coming decades.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (193 words)
Flow cytometry is a versatile analytical technology for measuring physical and molecular characteristics of individual cells or particles in suspension. The technology has had its greatest impact in immunology, enabling the identification and quantification of rare cell populations within complex mixtures, but applications span diverse biological systems including hematopoietic cells, microorganisms, cultured cells, plant cells, gametes, and disaggregated tissues. Target molecules are typically identified using fluorophore-conjugated antibodies, though alternative labeling strategies exist. A key advantage of flow cytometry is the ability to physically isolate cells of interest for downstream applications such as culture, genomic analysis, or functional studies. The field has undergone substantial evolution from conventional filter-based polychromatic systems to spectral cytometry platforms that capture full emission spectra, enabling higher-parameter analyses and more flexible panel design. This review examines current capabilities and limitations of flow cytometry technology, with emphasis on recent advances in spectral detection, quantitative standardization, and computational analysis. We discuss remaining technical challenges and explore emerging opportunities for innovation in excitation systems, detector technology, and integration with artificial intelligence-based analysis platforms. Addressing these challenges will be essential for cytometry to continue driving biological discovery and clinical applications in the coming decades.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41311164 · DOI · PMC12706142
Nano-Flow Cytometry-Guided Discrimination and Separation of Human Cytomegalovirus Virions and Extracellular Vesicles [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Accurate quantification and physical separation of viral particles and extracellular vesicles (EVs) produced by virus-infected cells presents a significant challenge due to their overlapping physical and biochemical properties.
- Closing excerpt
- The methods introduced here have the capacity to circumvent common difficulties associated with the co-investigation of EVs and viruses.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (174 words)
Accurate quantification and physical separation of viral particles and extracellular vesicles (EVs) produced by virus-infected cells presents a significant challenge due to their overlapping physical and biochemical properties. Most analytical methods provide information on a particle mixture as a whole, without distinguishing viral particles from EVs. By utilising nano-flow cytometry (nFC), a specialised form of flow cytometry adapted for the investigation of nanoparticles, we developed a simple, nucleic acid staining-based method for discrimination and simultaneous quantification of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) virions, dense bodies and EVs, within extracellular particle mixtures produced by HCMV-infected cells. We show that nucleic acid staining allows for discrimination of the individual particle types based on their distinct fluorescence/side scatter profiles, assessed at single-particle level by nFC. Following this, we optimised a method for physical separation of EVs from viral particles, based on high-speed centrifugation through density cushions, using nFC as a tool to evaluate the purity of the isolated EVs. The methods introduced here have the capacity to circumvent common difficulties associated with the co-investigation of EVs and viruses.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 40314077 · DOI · PMC12046292
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Flow Cytometry: An Overview [4]
- Research article Flow cytometry: basic principles and applications [5]
- Research article Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (third edition) [6]
- Research article Comprehensive Phenotyping of T Cells Using Flow Cytometry [7]
- Research article Immunophenotype of normal vs. myeloma plasma cells: Toward antibody panel specifications for MRD detection in multiple myeloma [8]
- Research article Isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles from Broncho-alveolar lavage fluid: a review and comparison of different methods [9]
References
- Vonficht D, Jopp-Saile L, Yousefian S, Flore V, Simó Vesperinas I, Teuber R, et al.. Ultra-high-scale cytometry-based cellular interaction mapping. . 2025. PMID 40775086 · DOI · PMC12446065
- Robinson JP, Gmyrek GB, Rajwa B. Flow Cytometry: Advances, Challenges and Trends. . 2026. PMID 41311164 · DOI · PMC12706142
- Bokun V, Strang BL, Pantazi P, Liu Y, Holder B. Nano-Flow Cytometry-Guided Discrimination and Separation of Human Cytomegalovirus Virions and Extracellular Vesicles. . 2025. PMID 40314077 · DOI · PMC12046292
- McKinnon KM. Flow Cytometry: An Overview. Curr Protoc Immunol. 2018. PMID 29512141 · DOI · PMC5939936
- Adan A, Alizada G, Kiraz Y, Baran Y, Nalbant A. Flow cytometry: basic principles and applications. Crit Rev Biotechnol. 2017. PMID 26767547 · DOI
- Cossarizza A, Chang HD, Radbruch A, Abrignani S, Addo R, Akdis M, et al.. Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies (third edition). Eur J Immunol. 2021. PMID 34910301 · DOI · PMC11115438
- Mousset CM, Hobo W, Woestenenk R, Preijers F, Dolstra H, van der Waart AB. Comprehensive Phenotyping of T Cells Using Flow Cytometry. Cytometry A. 2019. PMID 30714682 · DOI
- Flores-Montero J, de Tute R, Paiva B, Perez JJ, Böttcher S, Wind H, et al.. Immunophenotype of normal vs. myeloma plasma cells: Toward antibody panel specifications for MRD detection in multiple myeloma. Cytometry B Clin Cytom. 2016. PMID 26100534 · DOI
- Carnino JM, Lee H, Jin Y. Isolation and characterization of extracellular vesicles from Broncho-alveolar lavage fluid: a review and comparison of different methods. Respir Res. 2019. PMID 31666080 · DOI · PMC6822481
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-11-04; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-11-04.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.