Dyes for Mitochondria & Other Organelles

NAO is a green fluorescent mitochondrial dye whose staining is not dependent on mitochondrial membrane potential.

Rhodamine 123 is a popular green fluorescent mitochondrial dye that stains mitochondria in living cells in a membrane potential-dependent fashion. It is widely used in flow cytometry studies involving mitochondrial membrane potential.

Tetrabromorhodamine 123 can be used to generate singlet oxygen (¹O₂) in mitochondrial membranes (1,2). The dye has a quantum yield for singlet oxygen generation of 0.65-0.7 and is particularly toxic to carcinoma cells.

TMRE (Tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester, perchlorate) and TMRM (70017) are preferred dyes for quantitative measurements of membrane potentials using the Nernst equation.

TMRE (Tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester, perchlorate) is used to quantify changes in mitochondrial membrane potential in live cells.

TMRM (Tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester, perchlorate) and TMRE are preferred dyes for quantitative measurements of membrane potentials using the Nernst equation.