Re: Question: Hoechst uptake in apoptotic cells
Howard Shapiro (hms@shapirolab.com)
Sun, 31 Aug 1997 19:36:27 -0400 (EDT)
Hoechst 33258 and 33342 have very different permeability properties; 33342
will get across the intact cytoplasmic membranes of most mammalian cells,
while 33258 is typically excluded. If you are working with fixed or
permeabilized cells, or with chromosome preps, the two dyes can be used more
or less interchangeably; for apoptosis assays, which depend critically on
membrane permeability changes, substituting one dye for another is asking
for trouble. I also get the impression that if one or two of the published
apoptosis assays worked uniformly reliably and well with a broad range of
cell types, we wouldn't see new apoptosis assays published every other week.
-Howard