Re: viability post fixation

Mario Roederer (Roederer@Beadle.Stanford.EDU)
Mon, 9 Jun 97 15:20:20 -0700

> Many moons ago I remember reading on the list a protocol
> for discriminating viable cells from dead cells that
> would still be usable after fixation of the sample.

If you analyze within 2 hours of fixation with 0.5% PFA, then you can use PI:
do standard PI staining, wash, then fix. If you wait more than 2 hours, the
signal really degrades.

The other alternative (which we have used for combining with intracellular
staining) is to use EMA (ethdium monoazide). Stain cells with 5 ug/ml in the
dark (20 min), wash twice, then expose to a UV source (like a UV light, even I
think, a fluorescent light bulb). Wash. EMA is UV-crosslinked to become
covalently bound to the cells and lights up cells that were dead before fixation
and permeabilization.

The EMA was published by a couple of people; see the Molecular Probes catalog
for specific references.

mr


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