Cytek Biosciences Ghost Dye viability dyes

When dead cells are included in flow cytometry analysis, it can result in high background and non-specific staining leading to false positives. To ensure accurate data, it is crucial to exclude dead cells from analysis. Viability dyes allow dead cells to easily be removed from analysis to improve data quality.

With Ghost Dye viability dyes, from Cytek Biosciences’ Tonbo Reagents portfolio, only live cells are analysed in experiments. The dyes come in a ready-to-use format, are easy to incorporate into staining protocols and are resistant to subsequent washing, fixation and permeabilisation.

The dyes can be used to discriminate viable from non-viable mammalian cells in flow cytometry applications. They irreversibly bind free amines available on the cell surface as well as intracellular free amines exposed in cells with compromised cell membranes. Necrotic cells with compromised membranes will react significantly more with the viability dyes than viable cells in the same sample and therefore will exhibit greater fluorescence intensity, allowing exclusion of these cells from analysis.