Biotium, a leading provider of reagents for immunofluorescence microscopy, is significantly expanding its line of antifade wet-set and hardset EverBrite Mounting Medium with options that include its new far-red NucSpot 640 nuclear counterstain. In addition, the firm is also releasing EverBrite TrueBlack Hardset Mounting Medium for mounting and quenching of lipofuscin autofluorescence in a single step.
Antifade mounting media, such as EverBrite, typically includes DAPI as a convenient blue nuclear counterstain for researchers performing immunofluorescence microscopy. However, cross-talk between fluorescence channels and UV-induced photoconversion of DAPI can cause bleed-through fluorescence in neighboring FITC or Cy3 channels. Biotium developed EverBrite Mounting Media with NucSpot counterstains as a novel solution to DAPI cross-talk and UV photoconversion, offering bright and specific nuclear imaging with very limited interference in other channels. EverBrite NucSpot 640 is specific for the Cy5 channel.
The company's TrueBlack lipofuscin quenchers are reagents designed to quench lipofuscin autofluorescence commonly found in human and aged animal tissues. The company believes that the new EverBrite TrueBlack Hardset Mounting Medium is the first reagent to offer both mounting and quenching of lipofuscin autofluorescence in a single step for greater convenience. It will be available with DAPI, NucSpot 640, or without a nuclear counterstain.
"Mounting medium has traditionally only provided antifade properties and a convenient DAPI counterstain, but does little to address other issues with fluorescence," says Lori Roberts PhD, Director of Bioscience at Biotium. "Our new products aim to provide both convenience and novel research solutions for our customers."
