Two-colour fluorescence staining kit turns live cells green and dead cells red in just 30 minutes, with results viewable on standard instruments
A new, brighter, Live and Dead cell staining kit is now available from Cambridge BioScience for cell viability and cytotoxicity studies.
Developed by Biotium, this two-colour fluorescence staining kit uses calcein AM to stain live cells green and EthD-III to stain dead cells red.
The probes measure two recognised parameters of cell viability - intracellular esterase activity, and plasma membrane integrity.
With higher DNA binding affinity and thus brighter fluorescence, Biotium's proprietary Ethidium Homodimer-111 probe is a superior alternative to many other probes and is said to be 40% brighter than EthD-1.
The method is simple, safe and rapid, requiring just 30 minutes for dye loading and needing no washing step.
Standard fluorescence microscopes, fluorescence micro-well plate scanners and flow cytometers can all be used to visualise results.
The standard protocol is suitable for most eukaryotic cell types, including adherent cells, and certain tissues providing an efficient alternative to other methods of cell viability and cytotoxicity assessment such as trypan blue exclusion and 51Cr release.
