I am doing calcium flux imaging with your Fura-2 calibration kit, but am seeing a large variability in ratio in different places around the slide. I am correcting for uniform illumination, using the product as directed, and sealing the coverslip with nail polish.
The nail polish may be the problem. The Kd value (calcium sensitivity) changes depending upon the dye's environment. Nail polish has solvents that can leech under the coverslip and cause variability. We recommend either going without a sealing or sealing with melted paraffin painted on the coverslip edges with a cotton-tipped applicator (paraffin is hydrophobic and has no solvents).
I need to label cells with Fluo-4, AM, for a calcium flux assay. How long after labeling will the dye be retained?
After loading dye into the cells, intracellular esterases remove the 'AM' moiety from the dye. When the 'AM' group is removed, the dye is able to bind calcium and fluoresce. Since the dye is not covalently bound to any cellular components, it may be actively effluxed from the cell. The rate of efflux is dependent upon the inherent properties of the cell, culture conditions and other factors. The dye may be retained for hours, days or even weeks or lost in a matter of minutes. The use of Probenecid (Cat. No. P36400) limits loss by active efflux.
What are the excitation/emission maxima for Rhod-2, AM, cell permeant (Cat. No. R1244, R1245MP)?
Rhod-2, AM, cell permeant (Cat. No. R1244, R1245MP) exhibits >100-fold increase in fluorescence intensity upon binding Ca2+. The excitation/emission maxima for Rhod-2, AM, cell permeant when bound to Ca2+ are 552/581 nm.
Although human pannexins (PanX) are homologous to gap junction molecules, their physiological function in vertebrates remains poorly understood. Our results demonstrate that overexpression of PanX1 results in the formation of Ca(2+)-permeable gap junction channels between adjacent cells, thus, allowing direct intercellular Ca(2+) diffusion and facilitating intercellular Ca(2+) wave propagation. More ... More
Spatially organised mitochondrial calcium uptake through a novel pathway in chick neurones.
Authors:Coatesworth W, Bolsover S
Journal:Cell Calcium
PubMed ID:16338004
'A brief depolarisation of chick sensory neurones evokes a calcium increase in mitochondria that peaks 1-2s after the depolarisation event and then decays over tens of seconds. Peripheral mitochondria take up more calcium than do central ones, even when the cytosolic calcium increase is spatially homogeneous. The calcium influx into ... More
Feedback inhibition of sodium/calcium exchange by mitochondrial calcium accumulation.
Authors:Opuni K, Reeves JP
Journal:J Biol Chem
PubMed ID:10801871
'Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the bovine cardiac Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger were subjected to two periods of 5 and 3 min, respectively, during which the extracellular Na(+) concentration ([Na(+)](o)) was reduced to 20 mm; these intervals were separated by a 5-min recovery period at 140 mm Na(+)(o). The cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ... More
Hydrolysis of Ca2+-sensitive fluorescent probes by perfused rat heart.
Authors:Scaduto RC, Grotyohann LW
Journal:Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol
PubMed ID:14561682
'Rat hearts were loaded with the fluorescent calcium indicators fura 2, indo 1, rhod 2, or fluo 3 to determine cytosolic calcium levels in the perfused rat heart. With fura 2, however, basal tissue fluorescence increased above anticipated levels, suggesting accumulation of intermediates of fura 2-AM deesterification. To examine this ... More
Nitric oxide-dependent mitochondrial biogenesis generates Ca2+ signaling profile of lupus T cells.
Authors:Nagy G, Barcza M, Gonchoroff N, Phillips PE, Perl A
Journal:J Immunol
PubMed ID:15356113
'Abnormal T cell activation and cell death underlie the pathology of systemic lupus erythematosus. Although mitochondrial hyperpolarization (MHP) represents an early and reversible checkpoint of T cell activation and apoptosis, lupus T cells exhibit persistent MHP. NO has recently been recognized as a key signal of mitochondrial biogenesis and mediator ... More