流式细胞仪(Flow cytometer)是集应用流体学、光学、电子学、生物学、免疫学等多门学科和技术于一体的新型高科技仪器。它的核心技术是流式细胞术(Flow cytometry，FCM)，该技术是利用流式细胞仪，使单个细胞或其他微小生物粒子处于快速直线流动状态，且逐个通过光束，从而对单个细胞或微粒进行多参数(数量、大小、核酸含量、细胞活性、特定菌群或物种等)定量分析和分选的检测技术，具有快速、灵敏、精确以及便于操作等突出优点。本文简要介绍流式细胞仪的原理，并论述流式细胞技术在实验室研究、工业生产、临床诊断、环境评估等领域的细菌快速检测应用。

Flow cytometer, an advanced instrument integrating fluidics, optics, electronics, biology, immunology, etc., measures cells in suspension that flow in single-file through laser beam. Flow cytometry (FCM), as the core of flow cytometer, is a multidisciplinary technique for analysing and sorting cells or other particles. FCM can provide a multitude of information at the single-cell level, including (but not limited to) total counts, size measurements, nucleic acid content, cell viability and activity, and detection of specific bacterial groups or species. The main advantage of FCM is that it is fast, sensitive, accurate and easy to perform. Here, we briefly review the basic principle of flow cytometer, focusing on its recent applications to rapid detection of bacteria in laboratory research, industrial biotechnology, clinical diagnosis and environment assessment.

国家973计划项目(No. 2010CB630901)