AAT Bioquest offers stains for the nucleus, mitochondria, lysosomes, ER, Golgi, cytoskeleton, plasma membrane and extracellular vesicles, in live-cell, fixable and fixed-cell formats across the visible and near-infrared range. The table lists common starting points; each organelle catalog page carries the full selection guidance and figures.
| What you're staining | What you're measuring | AAT Bioquest products to consider |
|---|---|---|
| Mitochondria in live cells | Mitochondrial distribution and morphology in live cells, with or without fixation afterwards; mitochondrial membrane potential. | MitoLite™ FX dyes and MitoLite™ Red CMXRos accumulate in mitochondria along the membrane potential gradient and are retained after fixation. JC-10 and TMRE report mitochondrial membrane potential. |
| Lysosomes and other acidic compartments in live cells | Lysosome number, size and distribution; lysosomal acidification. | LysoBrite™ dyes for localization. Protonex™ dyes, whose fluorescence increases as pH falls from neutral to acidic, for acidification. |
| Nuclear DNA | Nuclear counterstain in live or fixed cells; cell cycle analysis; dead-cell discrimination by loss of membrane integrity. | Hoechst 33342 or Nuclear Green™ LCS1 for live cells (cell-permeable). DAPI for fixed and dead cells. Nuclear DCS dyes, propidium iodide and 7-AAD are cell-impermeant and stain only cells with a compromised membrane, such as fixed or dead cells. |
| F-actin and microtubules | Filamentous actin in fixed, permeabilized cells; actin or tubulin dynamics in live cells. | iFluor® phalloidin conjugates for fixed cells. Actin Lightning™ LC Red (cell-permeable) for F-actin in live cells. Cell Navigator® Live Cell Tubulin Staining Kits (Tubulite™) for tubulin in live cells. |
| Plasma membrane | Cell outline for segmentation in high-content screening; cell-surface glycoprotein labeling; membrane labeling for cell tracing. | Cell Navigator® Cell Plasma Membrane Staining Kits label uniformly across cell types and survive fixation. iFluor® and XFD WGA conjugates bind N-acetylglucosamine and sialic acid residues on surface glycoproteins. DiI, DiO, DiD and DiR are lipophilic membrane dyes. |
| Endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus in live cells | Organelle morphology and localization within the secretory pathway. | Cell Navigator® Live Cell ER Staining Kits (blue, green or red). Cell Navigator® NBD Ceramide and TMR Ceramide Golgi Staining Kits. |
| Lipid droplets | Neutral lipid storage: triglycerides and cholesterol esters. | Droplite™ Green and LipidLite™ Green for imaging. Cell Navigator® Fluorimetric Lipid Droplet Assay Kits for plate-reader formats. |
| Exosomes | Extracellular vesicle labeling for fluorescence nanoparticle tracking analysis, flow cytometry and microscopy. | Cell Navigator® Exosome Fluorescence Staining Kit and Cell Navigator® Flow Cytometric Exosome Staining Kit. |