Table 3 Overview of fluorescent staining methods to target specific cellular components

From: Quality control methods in musculoskeletal tissue engineering: from imaging to biosensors

Target

Type of labeling

Protein or nucleic acid specific binding

Protein of interest

Antibody labeling (fluorochrome conjugation on primary or secondary antibody)

Yes

Membrane

Lipophilic dyes such as PKH dyes:

- PKH2 (green)

- PKH26 (red)

- PKH67 (green)

No

Cytoskeletal components

Phalloidin conjugates (actin)

Paclitaxel or docetaxel conjugates, other Taxol derivatives (tubulin)

Yes

Organelles

Rhodamine 123 (mitochondria)

TMRE, TMRM (mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum)

LysoTracker (lysosomes)

No

Nucleic acid

DAPI, Hoechst dyes (dsDNA, A-T rich regions)

EthD-1, EtBr (dsDNA)

SYBR dyes (dsDNA minor grove region)

Oligonucleotide probes (RNA, ssDNA, dsDNA)

Yes (structure or sequence dependent binding)

  1. DAPI 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole, EtBr ethidium bromide, EthD-1 ethidium homodimer-1, PKH Paul Karl Horan (note: PKH dyes are named after their discoverer), TMRE tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester, TMRM tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester.
Back to article page