Isolation of Pneumocystis carinii cysts by flow cytometry

Pneumocystis carinii cysts were separated as enriched populations from suspensions of lung homogenate obtained from infected rats containing all developmental stages of this organism. Isolation of cyst populations was achieved by incubating filtered lung homogenate with the fluorescent phospholipid analog 1-palmitoyl-2-C₆-NBD-phosphatidylcholine. Whereas cysts did not fluorescence as a result of outer-wall restraint of lipid integration, trophozoites and young intermediate stages readily incorporated the fluorescently labeled lipid analog into their outer membrane. The two distinct labeling patterns displayed by cysts and other developmental phases of P. carinii constitute a novel, easy, and reproducible means of isolating cysts from infected lung homogenate by flow cytometry.