7-Aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) is a fluorescent intercalator , a spectral shift occurs when binding to DNA. The 7-AAD/DNA complex can be excited by a 488 nm laser and has a maximum emission wavelength of 647 nm, making this nucleic acid stain useful for multicolor fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometric analysis. 7-AAD appears to be generally rejected by living cells but can be used on cells that have been fixed and permeabilized. 7-AAD has been used in cell cycle analysis by flow cytometric analysis. 7-AAD can also selectively bind to the GC region of DNA, producing obvious banding patterns in polytene chromosomes and chromatin for chromosome banding studies.

ViewSelection guide for all nonfixable viability dyes for flow cytometric analysis.