Nuclear Blue™ DCS2 *Equivalent to SYTOX™ Blue Dead Cell Stain*

Nuclear Blue™ DCS2 is the same molecule to SYTOX™ Blue Dead Cell Stain (SYTOX™ is a trademark of ThermoFisher). Nuclear Blue™ DCS2 is a simple and quantitative single-step dead-cell indicator for use with violet laser equipped flow cytometers. It is a high-affinity nucleic acid stain that easily penetrates cells with compromised plasma membranes but will not cross uncompromised cell membranes. Under the same conditions, our Nuclear Violet™ DCS1 (#17549) gives much higher signal/background ratio than SYTOX™ Blue Dead Cell Stain. Nuclear Violet™ DCS1 is better excited by the violet laser at 405 nm than SYTOX™ Blue Dead Cell Stain. After brief incubation with Nuclear Violet™ DCS1 stain, the nucleic acids of dead cells fluoresce bright blue when excited with 405 nm violet laser light. The violet-excited fluorescence emission of Nuclear Violet™ DCS1 stain permits clear discrimination from probes excited by most other laser lines, facilitating the development of multicolor assays with minimal spectral overlap between signals.