FLUORESCENCE-BASED IMAGING AND ANALYSIS OF CELLS AND CELLULAR COMPONENTS USING LIPOPHILIC DYES WITH IMPROVED SPECIFICITY, SPECTRAL PROPERTIES AND PHOTOSTABILITY

摘要

The present invention relates to the use of specific bodipy dyes having the general structural formula I below wherein the substituents R₁, R₂, R₃, R₄, R₅, R₆, R₇, R₈ and R₉ independently are H or an organic residue, for fluorescence-based imaging, in particular multi-color imaging, or analysis of cells and cellular components including lipid droplets. In a preferred embodiment, R₁, R₂, R₃, R₄, R₅, R₆, R₇, R₈ and R₉ in formula I above are independently H or an unsubstituted or substituted lower alkyl group having 1-8 C atoms, such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl etc. In a further preferred embodiment the substituents R₁, R₂, R₃, R₄, R₅, R₆, R₇, R₈ in formula I are each H and R₉ is an alkyl group, preferably an lower alkyl group having 1-8 C atoms. The present invention can be advantageously applied to the fields of microscopy, flow cytometry or fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS).