Cell Structure Analysis Probes

FSD Fluor™ Phalloidin Series

Phalloidin is a rigid bicyclic peptide toxin isolated from Amanita phalloides mushroom that commonly used in imaging applications to selective label F-actin. Phalloidin is known to react stoichiometrically with actin, strongly promote actin polymerization, and stabilize actin polymers. Due to the ability to bind F-actin selectively, fluorescence conjugated phalloidin derivatives are widely used in microscopy for investigating the distribution of F-actin in cells. In biomedical research, fluorescent phalloidin probes are utilized in localizing actin filaments in living or fixed cells as well as for visualizing individual actin filaments in vitro. Fluorescent phalloidins much smaller than fluorescent antibodies, thus they have several advantages for actin labeling such as virtually identical binding properties with actin from different species of plants and animals, much denser labeling of filamentous actin, more detailed images, and lower nonspecific binding. Fluorescent phalloidin conjugates are not permeable to most live cells, thus they should be used to detect cells with compromised membranes. However, fluorescent labeled phalloidins may penetrate the membranes of certain hypoxic cells. BioActs offers FSD Fluor™ Phalloidin series for the labeling and quantitative analysis of F-actin in formaldehyde-fixed and permeabilized tissue sections, cell cultures, and cell-free experiments.

CytoFlamma® Cell Membrane

Lipophilic organic dyes bear some structural resemblance to natural lipids and can be incorporated into cell wall and liposome. BioActs developed CytoFlamma® cell membrane series as versatile membrane selective fluorescent probes. The probes consist of Flamma dye attached with hydrophobic lipid analogs. They can be used in studies for biophysical analysis of membranes, for tracing lipid transport and metabolism in live cells, and for lipid-mediated signal transduction processes. Flamma® dyes display strong absorption, high fluorescence quantum yield and high photostability, and they maintain good fluorescence activity and stability after conjugation to biomolecules. Due to low toxicity and stable retention, CytoFlamma® cell membrane probes might be useful for long-term cell tracing and can be used as membrane markers of endocytosis and exocytosis. The probes are stable under photooxidation effects induced by ultraviolet excitation and are resistant to spontaneous oxidation. We offer CytoFlamma® cell membrane series as selective fluorescent probes for analyzing cell structure by incorporating into plasma membrane.

MitoFlamma^® Green

MitoFlamma^® Green is a mitochondria-selective green fluorescent dye that allows to detect mitochondrial morphology in living cells. This unique dye appears to preferentially accumulate in mitochondria regardless of mitochondrial membrane potential in certain cell types, making it a possible tool for determining mitochondrial mass. MitoFlamma^® Green enables researchers to observe mitochondrial activity, localization and abundance as well as monitoring the effect of drugs or other external stimuli on the mitochondrial function. The maxima of excitation/emission are at 508/580 nm. Once mitochondria are labeled with this special dye, the cells can be treated with an aldehyde fixative for samples that require fixation for further processing. MitoFlamma^® Green probes are retained in the mitochondria during the fixation step and after permeabilization with some detergents during subsequent processing steps. After fixation, labeled samples can be applied in a variety of experiments such as immunocytochemistry, in situ hybridization, microplate-based analysis, etc.

Cytoskeleton

Plasma Membrane

Mitochondria

Apoptosis Imaging Probes

Annexin V Series

TUNEL Assay Kit

ROS Detection Probes

NpFlamma® ROS

Angiogenesis Probes

Integrins are heterodimeric transmembrane receptors for cell adhesion to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and play important roles in certain cell-cell adhesions. In addition, they make transmembrane connections to the cytoskeleton and activate many intracellular signaling pathways. Because of their role in tumor angiogenesis and progression, integrins have become important diagnostic and therapeutic targets. To date 24 distinct integrins are known, and among them, integrin α_vβ₃ is known to strongly involve in the regulation of angiogenesis. The α_vβ₃ is generally expressed in low levels on the epithelial cells and mature endothelial cells, but it is highly expressed in many solid tumors. The α_vβ₃ levels correlate well with the potential for tumor metastasis and aggressiveness, which make it an important biological target for development of antiangiogenic drugs and molecular imaging probes for early tumor diagnosis.

Cyclic tripeptide arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) is well-known to bind preferentially to α_vβ₃ integrin with high affinity. Cyclic RGD is an effective ligand for tumor targeting since integrin α_vβ₃ is overexpressed not only on tumoral endothelium but also on various cancer cells. Thus, targeting tumor cells or tumor vasculature by RGD-based strategies is a promising approach for delivering anticancer drugs or diagnostic agents. Cyclic RGD peptides are also able to bind α_vβ_5, α₅β_1, α₆β₄, α₄β₁, and α_vβ₆ integrins, which may help enhance their tumor uptake due to the increased receptor population. BioActs developed AngioFlamma^® series as effective fluorescent probes for the detection of angiogenesis and tumor cells. The probes are made up of various fluorophores conjugated cyclic RGD. We offer AngioFlamma^® series as in vivo fluorescent probes for imaging of blood vessels, tumors and angiogenesis.

AngioFlamma® Series