Principle
The key concept is that larger cells tend to stay within the flowing buffer solution while smaller cells will be washed away follow the buffer solution (different sedimentation property within the buffer solution), and cells will have different sedimentation properties in different cell cycle stages.
The basic principle of separating the cells inside CCE is the balance between centrifugal force and the counter flow drag force. When the cells enter the elutriation chamber, all the cells will stay at the outer edge of the chamber due to centrifugal force. Then when we increase the flow rate of the buffer solution, due to the special design of the CCE, the solution tends to push the cells towards the middle of the CCE: we call this counter flow drag force. As the flow rate of the buffer solution increase, when the counter flow drag force outweigh the centrifugal force the smaller cells will be driven by the net force and leave the chamber first. In contrast the larger cells will stay within the elutriation chamber. So the cells escape from the elutriation chamber can be collected in the exit of the system.
Read more about this topic: Counterflow Centrifugation Elutriation
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