Patent ID: 7186516

Claim:
A method of detecting specific lysis of a target cell in a plurality of different target cells, comprising: a) contacting a lytic agent with: i) a first target cell labeled with a first plasma membrane-labeling fluorescent dye and a cytosol-labeling fluorescent dye; and ii) at least a second target cell labeled with a second plasma membrane-labeling fluorescent dye and the cytosol-labeling fluorescent dye; b) detecting a reduction in the amount of fluorescent cytosol-labeling dye in the first and at least the second target cell, wherein a reduction in the amount of the cytosol-labeling fluorescent dye in any of said target cells indicates that a target cell has been lysed by the lytic agent; and c) determining the identity of the unlysed target cell, by detecting the fluorescent plasma membrane labeling dye in the unlysed target cell, and thereby detecting the specific lysis of a target cell.