New violet-excitable reagents for multicolor flow applications.

We have recently added three new fluorophores-BD Horizon™ V450, BD Horizon V500, and BD Horizon V550 (V450, V500, and V550; BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA) to our existing AmCyan product, forming a group of four violet-excitable dyes from which we have produced functional antibody conjugates. These conjugates, with emission maxima that range from 450 to 535 nm, are compatible with multilaser flow cytometry (FCM) and can be used for polychromatic FCM in three-color or two-color combinations; in fact, V500 fills a spectral opening that has thus far not been exploited by other manufacturers of FCM reagents. We here report that conjugates based on BD Horizon dyes performed well within a useful sensitivity range, established by testing a representative group of violet-excitable FCM reagents currently available, and that V500 has better compatibility with FITC in multicolor applications than does AmCyan.

Use of a new violet-excitable AmCyan variant as a label in cell analysis.

Here we report a new variant of AmCyan fluorescent protein that has been specifically designed for multicolor cell analysis. AmCyan is one of the existing violet fluorochromes for use in flow cytometers equipped with a violet (405 nm) laser. It is also widely used as a label in fluorescent spectroscopy. Limitations on its use are due to the significant AmCyan fluorescence spillover into the FITC detector, due to excitation of AmCyan by the blue (488 nm) laser. In order to resolve this problem, we modified the excitation profile of AmCyan. The new fluorescent protein that we developed, AmCyan100, has an emission profile similar to AmCyan with an emission maximum at 500 nm, but its excitation maximum is shifted to 395 nm, which coincides more closely with the violet laser line and decreases the excitation with the blue laser, thus reducing the spillover observed with the original AmCyan. Moreover, this new protein has a Stokes shift of more than 100 nm compared to the Stokes shift of 31 nm in its precursor. Our data also suggests that AmCyan100-mAb conjugates have brightness similar to AmCyan-mAb conjugates. In summary, AmCyan100 conjugates have minimum spillover into the FITC detector, and can potentially replace existing AmCyan conjugates in multicolor flow cytometry without any changes in instrumental setup and existing reagent panel design.

Control of the fluorescence of dye-antibody conjugates by (2-hydroxypropyl)-ß-cyclodextrin in fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry.

When proteins are conjugated to fluorescent organic dyes, fluorescence emission of the dye molecules is usually decreased, sometimes up to 50-70%. This quenching phenomenon has been acknowledged for decades, but as yet, there are no simple, practical methods to control the fluorescence of dyes conjugated to proteins, especially for dyes conjugated to immunoglobulins. Here, we report that the addition of (2-hydroxypropyl)-ß-cyclodextrin (HPßCD) to dye-antibody conjugates can increase fluorescence up to 2.5-fold in cell imaging and flow analysis. This method may be an effective way to increase the sensitivity of detection of fluorescent organic labels used in immunology, histochemistry, and cell biology.

3-Carboxy-6-chloro-7-hydroxycoumarin: a highly fluorescent, water-soluble violet-excitable dye for cell analysis.

In our search for new violet-excitable dyes with improved photophysical and photochemical properties, we examined several halogen-substituted hydroxycoumarins and found that chlorinated derivatives are at least as bright as their fluorinated analogs. A monochlorinated hydroxycoumarin was found to have a high quantum yield (approximately 0.98), and human leucocyte-specific monoclonal antibodies (CD3, CD4, and CD45) conjugated with this dye exhibited reliable performance in flow cytometry assays. Additional studies were performed, with BD Horizon V450-antibody conjugates being included in eight-color cocktails aimed at subsetting lymphocytes and myeloid cells. Such cocktails can frequently be unstable due to the tendency of one or more components to lose structural integrity, photobleach, or develop unwanted affinities for another component. However, the cocktails employed in this study enabled several different applications to be run and established that multicolor reagent mixtures containing V450-antibody conjugates are functional and stable.

Quantum dots in flow cytometry.

The development of new fluorophores has experienced a tremendous advance over the last two decades. The unique photophysical properties of quantum dots (QDs), such as their large Stokes shifts and exceptional brightness, make them attractive probes in flow cytometry applications. In this chapter, the spectral overlap and the fluorescence intensity of a single Qdot nanocrystal species (Qdot-655) was investigated in the context of a panel containing conventional fluorophores. Certain compensation issues remain because of the unique absorption characteristics of QDs. To demonstrate the potential of QDs for multicolor flow cytometry, human lymphocytes were surface stained with an eight-color panel where one of its standard violet laser reagents, CD4 AmCyan, was substituted with the CD4 Qdot-655 conjugate.