Ct

Definition	:	Cycle threshold
Category	:	Medical » Laboratory
Country/Region	:	Worldwide
Popularity	:
Type	:	Initialism

What does Ct mean?

Cycle threshold (Ct) is a term used in real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to describe the number of cycles required for a PCR to reach a certain level of fluorescence.
Ct is the number of cycles needed for the PCR to produce enough fluorescence to detect the genetic material. It gives a measure of how much of a certain type of genetic material is in a sample.
A lower Ct value indicates a higher initial amount of target genetic material, while a higher Ct value indicates a lower initial amount of target genetic material.