Editing Flow cytometry (section)

=== Isotope labeling ===
{{main|Mass cytometry}}
Mass cytometry overcomes the fluorescent labeling limit by utilizing [[lanthanide]] isotopes attached to antibodies. This method could theoretically allow the use of 40 to 60 distinguishable labels and has been demonstrated for 30 labels.<ref name="JIM2010">{{cite journal |vauthors=Ornatsky O, Bandura D, Baranov V, Nitz M, Winnik MA, Tanner S |date=September 2010 |title=Highly multiparametric analysis by mass cytometry |journal=Journal of Immunological Methods |volume=361 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1016/j.jim.2010.07.002 |pmid=20655312}}</ref> Mass cytometry is fundamentally different from flow cytometry: cells are introduced into a [[Plasma (physics)|plasma]], ionized, and associated isotopes are quantified via [[time-of-flight mass spectrometry]]. Although this method permits the use of a large number of labels, it currently has lower throughput capacity than flow cytometry. It also destroys the analysed cells, precluding their recovery by sorting.<ref name=JIM2010/>