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Published on: October 21, 2012
Differences in ethidium bromide and 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining profiles with regard to DNA fragmentation
1General Laboratory for Medical Research, School of Medicine, University of Tokushima, Japan.
Abstract:
To simply and directly evaluate DNA fragmentation during apoptosis induced in mouse cultured hepatocytes by an anti-Fas antibody, we examined the fluorescence intensity in cell nuclei stained with ethidium bromide and 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole by optiphoto fluorescence microscopy. The intensity of the former staining for the nuclear DNA of apoptotic cells was clearly decreased compared to that of non-apoptotic cells, whereas no difference in the fluorescence intensity for the latter stain between the apoptotic and non-apoptotic groups was observed. Thus, the use of optiphoto fluorescence microscopy, in conjunction with both stains, constitutes a useful tool for the evaluation of apoptotic DNA fragmentation.

