3. • Eukaryotic cells contain subcellular structures responsible for carrying out
essential functions for cell survival.
• Due to their specialized functions and well-defined nature, it is often useful in cell
biology studies to label key organelles, such as the cell membrane, nucleus,
cytoplasm, mitochondria, lysosomes, endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi
apparatus, and cytoskeleton proteins (e.g., actin).
• Many fluorescent dyes and markers highly specific for diverse organelles that can
be used to monitor cell health, cell death, metabolic activity, autophagy, cell
tracking, and cell migration and invasion.
3
INTRODUCTION
6. Membrane-Permeant Cytoplasm Stains Features
ViaFluor® SE Cell Proliferation Dyes • Membrane-permeable compound is hydrolyzed in live
cells to release amine-reactive dye
• Covalent, fixable intracellular labeling
• Can be used for flow cytometry analysis of cell division by
dye dilution
• For long-term labeling (days to weeks)
• Choice of blue or green fluorescence
Calcein AM • Membrane-permeable compound is hydrolyzed in live
cells to release green fluorescent dye
• Uniform intracellular labeling
• Dead cells don’t retain dye, for true endpoint viability
assay
• For short term labeling (≤24 hours)
Cell Membrane Staining Dyes
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Table 3: Cell Membrane Staining Dyes
7. Cytoskeletal Probes Features
ViaFluor® Live Cell Microtubule Stains • Live cell microtubule stains
• Blue fluorescent ViaFluor® 405, green fluorescent
ViaFluor® 488 and far-red fluorescent ViaFluor® 647
Microtubule Stains
• ViaFluor® 647 is compatible with super-resolution imaging
by STED
Phalloidin conjugates • Actin filament stains for fixed and permeabilized cell
• Choice of 16 bright & photostable CF® dyes
• Also available with biotin, FITC, and rhodamine dyes
Cytoskeleton Staining Dyes
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Table 4: Cytoskeleton Staining Dyes
10. S.No Dye Abs/Em Fixable Detection channel
1. ER-Tracker™ Green (BODIPY™ FL
Glibenclamide), for live-cell imaging
504/511 Yes FITC
2. ER-Tracker™ Red (BODIPY™ TR
Glibenclamide), for live-cell imaging
587/615 Yes Texas Red
3. Alexa Fluor 594 561/594 No Texas Red
4. Alexa Fluor 488 496/519 No FITC
Endoplasmic Reticulum Staining Dyes
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Table 7: Endoplasmic Reticulum Staining Dyes
11. S.No Dye Abs/Em Fixable Detection channel
1. Hoechst 33342 350/461 Yes UV / DAPI
2. Hoechst 34580 392/440 Yes Violet / DAPI
3. SYTO™ 9 Green Fluorescent Nucleic Acid Stain 483/503 Yes FITC
4. SYTO™ 82 Orange Fluorescent Nucleic Acid
Stain - 5 mM Solution in DMSO
541/560 Yes
TRITC
5. SYTO™ Deep Red Nucleic Acid Stain, for live
cells
652/669 Yes Cy5
6. SYTOX Blue 444/480 Yes Violet/DAPI
7. SYTOX Green 483/503 Yes FITC
8. SYTOX Orange 547/570 Yes RFP/TRITC
9. TO-PRO-3 642/661 No Cy5
10. SYTOX Deep Red 660/682 Yes Cy5
Nucleus Staining Dyes
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Table 8: Nucleus Staining Dyes
12. • Restricting cell culture imaging techniques to fixed tissues and cells limits the
information a researcher can obtain about the system of interest, as the observer
is only able to capture a moment in cellular time.
• Live cell fluorescent organelle dyes permit the selective staining of specific
organelles without increased cytotoxicity.
• Organelle staining in live cells can help researchers to confirm the identity of
specific proteins or targets within cells and provide a better understanding of
cellular processes
12
Conclusion
13. • https://www.novusbio.com/products/nuclear-cytosolic-staining. Accessed on: 05-May 2021
• https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-documents/articles/biology/cell-culture/organelle-dyes-and-stains.html. Accessed on:
05-May 2021
• https://biotium.com/technology/cellular-stains/. Accessed on: 06-May 2021
• https://www.thermofisher.com/in/en/home/life-science/cell-analysis/cell-tracing-tracking-and-morphology/cell-tracking.html.
Accessed on: 06-May 2021
• https://www.thermofisher.com/in/en/home/life-science/cell-analysis/cell-structure/golgi.html. Accessed on: 06-May 2021
• https://www.thermofisher.com/in/en/home/life-science/cell-analysis/cell-structure/mitochondria.html. Accessed on: 07-May
2021
• https://www.thermofisher.com/in/en/home/life-science/cell-analysis/cell-structure/plasma-membrane.html. Accessed on: 07-
May 2021
• Grimm F, Nizamov S, Belov V. Green‐Emitting Rhodamine Dyes for Vital Labeling of Cell Organelles Using STED Super‐Resolution
Microscopy. ChemBioChem. 2019;20(17):2248-2254.
• Davies E. Use of Fluorescent Dyes for Measurement and Localization of Organelles Associated with Ca2+Store Release in Human
Neutrophils. Cell biology international. 1997;21(10):655-663.
• Terasaki M, Loew L, Lippincott‐Schwartz J, Zaal K. Fluorescent Staining of Subcellular Organelles: ER, Golgi Complex, and
Mitochondria. Current Protocols in Cell Biology. 1998;00(1).
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