PI Staining Solution (Ready-to-use)

Description

Propidium iodide (PI) is a commonly used fluorescent nuclear dye. As an analog of ethidium bromide (EB), it binds to double-stranded DNA by intercalating between base pairs. Upon excitation at 488 nm, PI produces a relatively large Stokes shift and has a maximum emission wavelength at 617 nm. Furthermore, PI cannot penetrate cell membranes and is excluded from live cells, but it can cross damaged cell membranes to stain the nucleus. These properties make PI a suitable fluorescent probe for cell viability analysis. It can be used alone or in combination with live cell fluorescent probes such as Calcein-AM, Hoechst 33258, or Hoechst 33342 to simultaneously stain and identify live and dead cells. It can also be used in combination with fluorochromes excited at 488 nm, such as FITC and PE.
This sterile, ready-to-use PI staining solution (dissolved in PBS) penetrates dead cells and binds to DNA, while being excluded by live cells, making it suitable for flow cytometry analysis of cell viability.