The brain is the most heterogeneous and complex tissue in the body. Previous studies have shown that immune cells are essential functional components in both healthy and pathological brains. Cytometry by the time of flight (CyTOF) is a high-dimensional single-cell detection technology that allows measurements of up to 100 cell markers with a small number of samples. This technique enables the identification and characterization of various cell types at the single-cell level under steady-state and diseased brain conditions. This review outlines three major advantages of the CyTOF technique compared with the traditional flow cytometry approach. We also discuss CyTOF applications in brain immune cell component research in both healthy and pathological brains.

大脑是人体中最异质和最复杂的组织。先前的研究表明，免疫细胞是健康和病理大脑中必不可少的功能成分。飞行时间流式细胞术 (CyTOF) 是一种高维单细胞检测技术，可以用少量样本测量多达 100 个细胞标记物。该技术能够在稳态和患病大脑条件下在单细胞水平上识别和表征各种细胞类型。本综述概述了 CyTOF 技术与传统流式细胞术方法相比的三大优势。我们还讨论了 CyTOF 在健康和病理大脑中脑免疫细胞成分研究中的应用。