Propidium iodide
Tocris Bioscience, part of Bio-Techne | Catalog # 5135
Key Product Details
| Description: | Red-fluorescent DNA stain, membrane impermeant to live cells. Used for: apoptosis detection, nuclear counterstaining, viability staining. Application: flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, fluorescence microscopy |
| Alternative Names: | PI |
| Chemical Name: | 3,8-Diamino-5-[3-(diethylmethylammonio)propyl]-6-phenylphenanthridinium diiodide |
| Purity: | ≥95% (HPLC) |
| Molecular Weight: | 668.39 |
Biological Activity for Propidium iodide
Key information: Propidium iodide (PI) is a widely used red-fluorescent DNA stain. It is membrane impermeant to live cells and so PI staining differentiates live and dead cells. PI can be used to stain nucleic acids in dead cells across different cell types, including mammalian cells, bacteria, and yeast.
Application: flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, fluorescence microscopy.
Used for: apoptosis detection by PI staining, nuclear counterstaining in multicolor fluorescent assays, cell death measuring in a mixed live-cell population by PI staining and flow cytometry.
Properties and Photophysical Data: Propidium iodide fluorescence increases by approximately 20- to 30-fold upon binding to DNA or RNA (through intercalation). When unbound, excitation and emission maxima (λ) are 493 nm and 636 nm, respectively, when bound to DNA, excitation and emission maxima (λ) are 535 nm and 617 nm, respectively.
Optical Data for Propidium iodide
| Emission Color | Orange |
|---|---|
| λabs | 535 nm |
| λem | 617 nm |
| Application | Flow Cytometry, Fluorescence Microscopy, Confocal Microscopy |
Plan Your Experiments
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