CellSimple^™ Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Assay Kit (I)

Storage

Specificity / Sensitivity

Species Reactivity:

Human

Product Description

Background

The CellSimple^™ Cell Analyzer is a benchtop instrument that utilizes a disposable thin-film cassette and a combination of a 488 nm laser, two photomultiplier tubes (525/45 nm and 561 nm LP filters), Coulter Principle-based cell measurements, and on-board software to provide easy-to-run applications and data analysis. Data acquisition occurs within approximately 10 seconds per test. The instrument relies on disposable cassettes for sample handling, which alleviates the need for flow cell cleaning and fluidics maintenance and the instrument is small enough to be portable between the lab bench and the hood. Applications include quantitative assessments of cell viability, apoptosis, other labeled antibody markers and single and multiplexed bead-based assays for protein and cellular analysis.
Mitochondria function as the main cellular powerhouse and play important roles in other processes, such as steroid metabolism, calcium homeostasis, apoptosis, and cellular proliferation. Mitochondrial membrane potential is a key indicator of mitochondrial function and cell health (1,2). The dissipation of mitochondrial membrane potential is considered an early indicator of apoptosis (3).

JC-1 (5,5′,6,6′-tetrachloro-1,1′,3,3′-tetraethyl-imidacarbocyanine iodide) is a cell membrane permeable, cationic dye. In normal cells, JC-1 concentrates in mitochondria to form aggregates in response to high membrane potential. Decreased mitochondrial membrane potential results in dispersal of mostly monomeric JC-1 throughout the cell. When excited at 490 nm, JC-1 monomers emit a green fluorescence with a maximum at ~520 nm. Aggregates of JC-1 emit an orange-red fluorescence with a maximum at ~590 nm. Therefore, the fluorescence intensity of the orange-red emission and the ratio of orange-red fluorescence to green fluorescence can be used to measure mitochondrial membrane potential and serve as an indicator of overall cell health (4).