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AAT Bioquest

Do you have any dyes that can stain the nuclei in live cells? Are they also fixable and can I use them to stain fixed cells?

Posted August 3, 2021


Answer

DAPI and Hoechst 33258, 33342 and 34580 can be used to stain nuclei in either live or fixed cells. Unfortunately, when exposed to UV light during imaging, the blue dyes can photoconvert into green and red-emitting forms, potentially confusing the interpretation of multicolor experiments. DAPI is toxic to cells unless extremely diluted, and so is typically used for fixed-cell staining. 

Nuclear LCS1/LCS2 is a novel series of cell-permeable, DNA-selective dyes for staining DNA content in living cells that covers most of the visual spectrum, avoiding photoconversion issues:

*Note: for fixable nuclei stains, stain cells first and then fix in 4% formaldehyde.

Additional resources

Fluorescence Cell Imaging Probes & Kits

Hoechst 33258 *CAS 23491-45-4*

Hoechst 33342 *Ultrapure Grade* *CAS 23491-52-3*

Hoechst 34580 *CAS 911004-45-0*

List of DAPI Products

Nuclear Violet™ LCS1

Nuclear Green™ LCS1

Nuclear Orange™ LCS1

Nuclear Red™ LCS1

Nuclear Red™ LCS2