General descriptionAcridine orange is a metachromatic fluorescent cationic dye that permeates the cell membrane and intercalates DNA and RNA. It allows for visual detection of nucleic acids on agarose and polyacrylamide gels.
ApplicationAcridine Orange, a cell-permeable metachromatic fluorescent cationic dye that intercalates DNA and RNA, is used in fluorescence and epiflouresence microscopy. Acridine Orange dye has been used to analyze mitochondria and lysosomal content by flow cytometry, characterize multidrug resistance, and measure changes in mitochondrial mass during apoptosis in rat thymocytes.
Suitable for
- detection of nucleic acids separated by gel electrophoresis
- fluorescence and epifluorescence microscopy
- analysis of mitochondria and lysosomes by flow cytometry
- DNA staining in apoptosis studies
Biochem/physiol ActionsAcridine orange intercalates into the nucleic acids of double helix and is detectable as green fluorescence at 530 nm. It binds electrostatically to the phosphate groups in single stranded nucleic acids and is detectable at red fluorescence at 640 nm.
Features and Benefits
- 120 microM of acridine orange detects 25-50 ng of purified DNA per band in gels
- differential staining of single- and double-stranded polynucleotides
