Patent ID: 9738939
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: C12Q

Claim:
1. A method for quantitatively determining the number of living and dead cells in a biological sample, comprising the steps of: (a) providing an untreated aliquot of the sample, (b) providing an aliquot of the sample, wherein all cells have been inactivated, resulting in a complete loss of integrity of the cell membranes, (c) carrying out separate DNA amplification reactions with the aliquots provided in steps (a) and (b), respectively, wherein the DNA amplification reactions do not impair the membrane integrity of living cells, (d) determining the respective DNA amount in the aliquots by the DNA amplification reactions carried out in step (c), and (e) determining the number of living and dead cells in the biological sample from the amounts of DNA determined in step (d).