Cell & Organelle Stains

A wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) lectin labeled with Biotium’s CF® Dyes, biotin, or HRP. It is a carbohydrate-binding lectin that has high affinity for sialic acid and N-acetylglucosamine and stains yeast bud scars as well as the cell membrane of gram+ bacteria and mammalian cells.

A high affinity inhibitor of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor in the neuromuscular junction. Blocks acetylcholine activity at the postsynaptic membrane.

1,6-Diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) is almost non-fluorescent in water, but it exhibits a strong increase in fluorescence after intercalation into membranes and can be used as a probe for viscosity, polarity and lipid order.

4-Di-1-ASP is a styryl dye that stains mitochondria of live cells. It has also been used to stain glioma cells in living brain tissues.

5(6)-CFDA (full name: 5-(and-6)-Carboxyfluorescein diacetate) is membrane-permeant and thus can be loaded into cells via incubation. Once inside cells, CFDA is hydrolyzed by intracellular esterases to carboxyfluorescein (see #51013 ).

5-(and-6)-carboxy-2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein is similar to carboxyfluorescein (51013), but has lower pK_a. It is useful for detecting pH in more acidic environment.

5-(and-6)-FAM (full name: 5-(and-6)-Carboxyfluorescein mixed isomer) has a pKa of 6.5 and can be used as a pH indicator.

This dye can be used as a low pH indicator similar to 51015, and is also useful as a general green fluorescent label.

The pKa of 5-carboxy-2′,7′-dichlorosulfonefluorescein is near 4 and thus the dye is potentially an excellent pH indicator for acidic organelles.

5-CFDA is membrane-permeant and thus can be loaded into cells via incubation. Once inside cells, 5-CFDA is hydrolyzed by intracellular esterases to 5-carboxyfluorescein (see 50015).

6-CFDA is membrane-permeant and thus can be loaded into cells via incubation. Once inside cells, 6-CFDA is hydrolyzed by intracellular esterases to 6-carboxyfluorescein.

7-AAD (7-aminoactinomycin D) is a membrane-impermeant fluorescent DNA binding dye that is useful for live/dead discrimination and cell cycle profiling by flow cytometry.

Acridine orange (AO) stains dsDNA green (525 nm) and RNA or single stranded DNA red (650 nm). The dye is membrane-permeant and its nucleic acid binding property has been used for cell-cycle studies.

Actinomycin D is a nonfluorescent GC-selective intercalator. Similar to 7-AAD (cat. no. 40038), actinomycin D has also been used for chromosome banding studies.

ADVASEP-7 is a sulfonated β-cyclodextrin derivative that has been reported to reduce background fluorescence when using SynaptoGreen C4 (also called FM1-43, catalog no. 70020) to stain brain slices.

AM1-43 (equivalent to FM®1-43FX) is a fixable, activity-dependent fluorescent nerve terminal probe. AM1-43 functions similarly similarly to SynaptoGreen C4 (catalog # 70020), but with the additional property of being fixable.