Most of our MitoView™ dyes are sensitive to mitochondrial membrane potential to some degree, and therefore are recommended for use in live cells only.
Our MitoView™ Fix 640 dye is designed to be fixable after staining of live cells. Staining is compatible with formaldehyde fixation, detergent permeabilization, methanol fixation, and subsequent immunofluorescence staining. MitoView™ Fix is not recommended for staining cells that are already fixed, because staining is non-specific in fixed cells.
MitoView™ Green is relatively insensitive to mitochondrial membrane potential, and can be used to stain formaldehyde-fixed cells (for best results, we recommend first fixing, then staining). MitoView™ Green does not stain well with samples that are fixed with methanol, permeabilized with detergent, or paraffin embedded. Nonyl Acridine Orange also stains mitochondria in fixed cells, but the staining of fixed cells is not specific to mitochondria (cytoplasmic and nuclear staining is also observed). In general, staining of fixed cells with mitochondrial dyes is less specific than live cell staining. For best results when staining mitochondria in fixed cells or tissue sections, we recommend using one of our Mitochondrial Marker Antibodies, available with a wide selection of bright and photostable CF® Dyes and other conjugations.
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