TrueBlack™ is a reagent for quenching lipofuscin autofluorescence in tissue sections for immunofluorescence staining. Lipofuscin consists of highly autofluorescent granules of oxidized proteins and lipids that build up in the lysosomes of aging cells. Lipofuscin granules fluoresce brightly in all channels used for fluorescence microscopy and accumulate in a cell and tissue types with age.
- Eliminates lipofuscin autofluorescence
- Can reduce autofluorescence from non-lipofuscin sources
- Doesn’t cause high background, clears the way for fluorescence imaging of human and aged animal tissues
TrueBlack™ is a new reagent for quenching lipofuscin autofluorescence in tissue sections for immunofluorescence staining.
Traditionally, Sudan Black B has been used to quench lipofuscin autofluorescence by incubating tissue sections with the dye after immunofluorescence staining. However, while it masks the autofluorescence from lipofuscin, Sudan Black B also introduces uniform non-specific background fluorescence in the red and far-red channels, limiting the use of fluorescent dyes in those wavelengths. Now Biotium has developed TrueBlack™ as a superior alternative to Sudan Black B. TrueBlack quenches lipofuscin fluorescence with far less increase in red/far-red background fluorescence. TrueBlack™ treatment can be performed before or after immunostaining. It is rapid, simple, and has minimal effect on signal from fluorescent antibodies or nuclear counterstains, thus preserving the signal-to-noise ratio of the immunostaining.
TrueBlack effectively eliminates lipofuscin autofluorescence in tissues like human brain and human retina. TrueBlack also can reduce autofluorescence from other sources, such as collagen, elastin, red blood cells, and general background fluorescence. It does not quench these sources of autofluorescence as completely as it does for lipofuscin, but it can substantially improve background in human and non-human tissue types.
Lipofuscin consists of highly autofluorescent granules of oxidised proteins and lipids that build up in the lysosomes of aging cells. Lipofuscin granules fluoresce brightly in all channels used for fluorescence microscopy, and accumulate in a variety of cell and tissue types with age. Consequently, imaging of specific immunofluorescence signal in certain adult human tissues or aged animal tissues can be virtually impossible unless methods are employed to quench or mask lipofuscin fluorescence.
Ordering information: TrueBlack™ is supplied as a 20X stock solution in DMF.
