Biomedical subjects

Jolene Bradford

Publications and source records attributed to Jolene Bradford.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Side population analysis using a violet-excited cell-permeable DNA binding dye.

Hoechst 33342 side population (SP) analysis is a common method for identifying stem cells in mammalian hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic tissues. Although widely employed for stem cell analysis, this method requires an ultraviolet (UV) laser to excite Hoechst 33342. Flow cytometers equipped with UV sources are not common because of the cost of both the laser and optics that can transmit light UV light. Violet laser sources are inexpensive and are now common fixtures on flow cytometers, but have been previously shown to provide insufficient Hoechst dye excitation for consistent resolution of SP cells. One solution to this problem is to identify additional fluorescent substrates with the same pump specificity as Hoechst 33342, but with better violet excitation characteristics. DyeCycle Violet reagent has emission characteristics similar to those of Hoechst 33342, but with a longer wavelength excitation maxima (369 nm). When this dye is loaded into hematopoietic cells, a sharply resolved side population was also observed, similar in appearance to that seen with Hoechst 33342. Unlike Hoechst SP, DCV SP was similar in appearance with both violet and UV excitation. DCV SP could be inhibited fumitremorgin C, and showed the same membrane pump specificity as Hoechst 33342. Simultaneous immunophenotyping with stem cell markers in mouse bone marrow demonstrated that DCV SP was restricted to the stem cell lineage(-) Sca-1(+) c-kit(+) cells population, as is Hoechst SP. Pending confirmation by functional analysis of DCV SP cells, these results suggest that DCV efflux identified approximately the same stem cell population as did Hoechst 33342 efflux. Substituting DCV for Hoechst 33342 in the SP technique may, therefore, allow side population analysis on flow cytometers with violet lasers.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Quantitative comparison of long-wavelength Alexa Fluor dyes to Cy dyes: fluorescence of the dyes and their bioconjugates.

Amine-reactive N-hydroxysuccinimidyl esters of Alexa Fluor fluorescent dyes with principal absorption maxima at about 555 nm, 633 nm, 647 nm, 660 nm, 680 nm, 700 nm, and 750 nm were conjugated to antibodies and other selected proteins. These conjugates were compared with spectrally similar protein conjugates of the Cy3, Cy5, Cy5.5, Cy7, DY-630, DY-635, DY-680, and Atto 565 dyes. As N-hydroxysuccinimidyl ester dyes, the Alexa Fluor 555 dye was similar to the Cy3 dye, and the Alexa Fluor 647 dye was similar to the Cy5 dye with respect to absorption maxima, emission maxima, Stokes shifts, and extinction coefficients. However, both Alexa Fluor dyes were significantly more resistant to photobleaching than were their Cy dye counterparts. Absorption spectra of protein conjugates prepared from these dyes showed prominent blue-shifted shoulder peaks for conjugates of the Cy dyes but only minor shoulder peaks for conjugates of the Alexa Fluor dyes. The anomalous peaks, previously observed for protein conjugates of the Cy5 dye, are presumably due to the formation of dye aggregates. Absorption of light by the dye aggregates does not result in fluorescence, thereby diminishing the fluorescence of the conjugates. The Alexa Fluor 555 and the Alexa Fluor 647 dyes in protein conjugates exhibited significantly less of this self-quenching, and therefore the protein conjugates of Alexa Fluor dyes were significantly more fluorescent than those of the Cy dyes, especially at high degrees of labeling. The results from our flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry experiments demonstrate that protein-conjugated, long-wavelength Alexa Fluor dyes have advantages compared to the Cy dyes and other long-wavelength dyes in typical fluorescence-based cell labeling applications.

Animals↗