vital stain for protoplasts

[Charles S Buer]

Tony--

Several dyes work on the exclusionary basis.  Trypan blue, Evan's blue, 
and phenosafranine should all work.  I have only used trypan blue.  I 
plan to test the other two, but haven't received them as yet.  
Fluorescein diacetate could also be used, but a UV light source is 
necessary to observe the fluorescence of viable cells.
REF:  Widholm, J.M. 1972.  Stain Technology. 189-194.  They are all 
available from Sigma.  I don't know about neutral red.

Charles Buer
Biology/Biotechnology Dept.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA 

On Wed, 31 Jan 1996, Tony Travis wrote:

> Alyson Tobin wrote:
> > 
> > We are working with isolated barley leaf protoplasts and need to stain them
> > to test for intactness of the plasmamembrane. I'm sure there is a suitable
> > dye but can't remember the name of it . Can anyone help with a name,
> > supplier and/or reference for the method please?
> > Alyson Tobin (St Andrews University)
> 
> I think the stain you want is neutral red (available from Sigma).
> 
> 	Tony.
> --
> Dr. A.J.Travis,                     |  mailto:ajt at rri.sari.ac.uk
> Rowett Research Institute,          |    http://www.rri.sari.ac.uk/~ajt
> Greenburn Road, Bucksburn,          |   phone:+44 (0)1224 712751
> Aberdeen AB2 9SB, Scotland, UK.     |     fax:+44 (0)1224 716687
> 
>