Flow cytometric analysis using intracellular dyes such as CFSE is a powerful experimentaltool which can be used in conjunction with mathematical modeling to quantify the dynamicbehavior of a population of lymphocytes. In this survey we begin by providing an overviewof the mathematically relevant aspects of the data collection procedure. We then presentan overview of the large body of mathematical models, along with their assumptions anduses, which have been proposed to describe the dynamics of proliferating cell populations.While much of this body of work has been aimed at modeling the generation structure (cellsper generation) of the proliferating population, several recent models have considered themore fundamental task of modeling CFSE histogram data directly. Such models are analyzedand recent results are discussed. Finally, directions for future research aresuggested.
