DRAQ5™ in FC-Based Apoptosis Assays: Far-Red Fluorescent Live-Cell Permeant DNA Dye

The cell cycle is a series of events that occur when a cell divides and replicates into two daughter cells. Cell cycle regulation depends upon processes that are pivotal to cell survival. During the cell cycle the quantity of DNA increases from 2N (G1 phase) to 4N (G2 phase) via the S (synthesis) phase. Perturbation of the cell cycle can lead, for example, to cell cycle arrest or uncontrolled cell division, as in cancer, while cells with DNA below 2N are typically in apoptosis, this is the, so-called, sub-G1/G0 peak. The quantity of DNA in each nucleated cell in a population can be measured by labeling the nuclear DNA with a fluorescing DNA dye, most commonly propidium iodide (PI). As a live-cell permeant DNA probe DRAQ5™ can be applied directly to complex samples such as blood or bone marrow or cultured cells, as the last step prior to analysis and without any washing steps.