Cell Surface & Membrane Dyes

Dilinoleyl DiO (1,1′-dilinoleyl-3,3′-oxacarbocynanine perchlorate), also known as FAST DiO™, has identical absorption and emission spectra as DiO (#60011).

DiO, also called DiOC₁₈(3), is a green fluorescent, lipophilic carbocyanine dye that is widely used as a lipophilic tracer.

DiOC₁₄(3) is a DiO derivative, but is more soluble in aqueous media than the latter because it has shorter hydrocarbon chains. Also see our ready-to-use CellBrite™ Cell Membrane Labeling Solutions.

DiOC16(3) is a green fluorescent lipophilic cyanine dye with two C16 hydrocarbon chains that can be used to stain cytoplasmic membranes.

DiR is a lipophilic, near-infrared fluorescent cyanine dye. The dye is useful for labeling cytoplasmic membranes and has been used for near-infrared in vivo imaging.

Fluorescein-DHPE is a useful surface pH indicator, and has also been used for measuring lateral diffusion in membranes.

NBD C6-ceramide (6-((N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino)hexanoyl)sphingosine) has been used for following sphingolipid metabolism in cells, and as a selective stain for the Golgi apparatus in live and fixed cells.

NBD C6-sphingomyelin (6-((N-(7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)amino)hexanoyl)sphingosyl phosphocholine) has been used for following sphingolipid metabolism in cells.

NBD-PE (N-(7-Nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazol-4-yl)-1,2-dihexadecanoyl-snglycero-3-phosphoethanolamine, triethylammonium salt) in combination with Rhodamine-DHPE (#60026) or Texas Red®-DHPE (#60027) has been used to study membrane fusion via fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) (1-3). NBD-PE has also been used in photobleaching recovery measurement.

Neuro-DiI was developed at Biotium as an alternative to the widely used fluorescent membrane probe DiI. Neuro-DiI has structural features that may make the probe diffuse faster than DiI on cell membranes and also may result in a more stable labeling.

Neuro-DiI uniformly dissolved in vegetable oil in a formulation optimized for microinjection. Neuro-DiI was developed at Biotium as an alternative to the widely used fluorescent membrane probe DiI.

Biotium developed Neuro-DiO as a replacement for the green fluorescent DiO, which has been found to be difficult to use for neurons and cell suspension due to low solubility, tendency to form aggregates and slow lateral diffusion rate.

Neuro-DiO is a derivative of DiO and has spectral properties nearly identical to that of the latter. However, unlike DiO, Neuro-DiO is structurally more similar to DiI, which is known to be a much better lipophilic neuronal tracer than regular DiO.

Nile Red is a red fluorescent neutral lipid stain.

The fluorescence of octadecyl rhodamine B in membranes is quenched at high dye concentration but is released at dilution. This property makes the dye useful for membrane fusion assays.

Rhodamine-DHPE is a rhodamine-labeled glycerophosphoethanolamine lipid that has been used in membrane fusion assays.