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Labeling Acidic Compartments of Neutrophils with Cresyl Violet
Philip P Ostrowski1,2, Ziv Roth1, Sergio Grinstein3,4
1Program in Cell Biology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Abstract:
We introduce the acidotropic marker cresyl violet to stain acidic granules in live neutrophils. Cresyl violet is less phototoxic, more photostable, and more cost-effective than other commercially available acidotropic markers. Additionally, it does not photoconvert to fluorescent species of a different color, a limitation of other commonly used acidotropic markers. Staining can be readily detected by fluorescence microscopy or by flow cytometry, and can be used as a readout of degranulation in activated neutrophils.
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