flow cytometer animal tissue: planarians

[miquel1975]

Dear all,

I am trying to find the amount of DNA of a population of planarians (freshwater worms) using flow cytometry. We use a technique which weak point is (apparently) the use of a maceration protocol where the specimen (5 mm of fresh tissue) is macerated using the following solution: 13 water: 1 acetic acid: 1 glycerol. Then we filter the product of maceration. The results are unstable (sometimes doesn't work) and is very slow. After the maceration we don't remove the solution because the cells are very easily damaged but the acetic is probably affecting the correct function of the machine. I would like to know about other techniques of animals tissue maceration that I can use to improve my results.

Best,

Miquel