posted 06-26-2009 06:36 PM            

Carbocyanine dyes are widely used as lipophilic tracers to label cells, organelles, liposomes, viruses and lipoproteins. These dyes can be used in a wide variety of application for long-term tracing of cells, including cell transplantation, migration, adhesion and fusion studies.

The most popular lipophilic tracers, DiO (DiOC18(3)), DiI (DiIC18(3)), DiD (DiIC18(5)) and DiR (DiIC18(7)) have extremely high extinction coefficients, environmental dependent fluorescence and short excited-state lifetimes. They are weakly fluorescent in aqueous phase, but highly fluorescent and photostable when incorporated into membranes or bound to lipophilic biomolecules. These optical characteristics make them ideal for staining the cytoplasmic membranes of cells. Once applied to cells, these dyes diffuse laterally within the plasma membrane, resulting in staining of the entire cell.

DiO, DiI, DiD and DiR exhibit distinct green, orange, red and infrared fluorescence, respectively, thus facilitating multicolor imaging and fluorescence flow cytometric analysis of live cells.

To improve on the slow diffusion rate of lipophilic tracers from the point of their application to the terminus of a neuron, AnaSpec offers lipophilic probes with unsaturated alkyl chains, including SPEEDYÔ DiO, SPEEDYÔ DiA, SPEEDYÔ DiI and D9-DiI, to accelerate the diffusion processes.

About AnaSpec

AnaSpec is a leading provider of integrated proteomics solutions to the world’s largest biotech, pharmaceutical, and academic research institutions. With a vision for innovation through synergy, AnaSpec focuses on three core technologies: peptides, detection reagents, and combinatorial chemistry.

For more information visit www.anaspec.com

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