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Hydrophilic Dyes
Name: Raya
Status: Student
Grade: 12+
Location: VT
Country: United States
Date: Fall 2010
Question:
Do hydrophilic dyes exist? For example, if one were to try
to dye a phospholipid bilayer, can it be done?
Replies:
Food coloring dyes are all water soluble, hence very hydrophilic. I
don't know whether they will accomplish what you want to do, however.
Vince Calder
Hi Raya,
There are lots of hydrophilic dyes, and there are lots of stains
designed for cell-membrane visualization. Here's one example from
Invitrogen:
http://probes.invitrogen.com/media/pis/mp10045.pdf
If you read the document, it discussed what makes an idea cell
membrane stain. If you want to visualize the cell membrane, I'm not
sure you would want a hydrophilic dye. The lipid bilayer, as you may
know, is hydrophobic internally, and hydrophilic externally. To stain
it, you can attach a dye to its surface (binding to proteins or sugars
on the surface), or you can use a dye that has both hydrophobic and
hydrophilic components (such as the referenced invitrogen stain).
Hope this helps,
Burr
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