The new Rhod-3 calcium imaging kit is designed for live cell imaging of cytosolic calcium signals combined with green fluorescent dyes or proteins. The red fluorescent Rhod-3 AM dye provided in the Rhod-3 Calcium Imaging Kit offers significant improvements over existing Ca²⁺- sensing dyes. Organelle uptake is reduced, which translates into better cytosolic localization. Furthermore, Rhod-3 AM displays a substantially increased fluorescence emission upon binding to calcium, making it more sensitive than other red fluorescent calcium dyes.

Learn more about ion indicators, including calcium, potassium, pH, and membrane potential indicators›

• Compared to existing red calcium dyes, Rhod-3 AM It shows a large increase in fluorescence (>2.5-fold) after binding to Ca²⁺ and very low fluorescence at rest (no Ca²⁺ binding).

•Narrow emission enables simultaneous detection with GFP or other dyes.

•Enhanced cytosolic localization for better detection of cytosolic transients

For easy cell loading, the Rhod-3 Calcium Imaging Kit contains PowerLoad™ Concentrate. Due to the unique properties of PowerLoad™ solutions, they can be used in the presence of complete culture medium, thereby reducing the adverse effects of medium changes or loading in serum-free medium.

Also provided with the Rhod-3 Calcium Imaging Kit is a proprietary water-soluble probenecid (commonly used to inhibit cellular transport, thereby reducing baseline signal).

Calcium indicators are important tools for signal transduction and cell-based pharmacological screening. In cells and tissues with blue or green autofluorescence, long-wavelength (i.e., red-shifted) calcium indicators provide a way to bypass this overlapping autofluorescence. Additionally, red-shifted calcium dyes are ideal for calcium imaging experiments multiplexed with green fluorescent protein (GFP) or other green fluorescent dyes.

Rhod-3 AM dye (included in the Rhod-3 Calcium Imaging Kit) is a modified red-shifted rhodamine-like calcium dye with an AM ester group attached. Once inside the cell, intracellular esterases cleave the AM group, trapping the dye within the cell, resulting in dye fluorescence. When calcium binds, the fluorescence intensity of the dye increases. The spectral properties of Rhod-3 AM (excitation/emission wavelength = ∼560/600 nm) and strong fluorescence upon binding to calcium provide an excellent signal window, making it an extremely bright red calcium dye. Furthermore, Rhod-3 AM shows a more uniform cytosolic distribution and better signal compared to existing red calcium dyes such as Rhod-2.