About Acti-stain™
The Acti-stain™ line of fluorescent phalloidins has been developed with an emphasis on creating exceptionally bright and stable probes at an economical price. Side-by-side comparisons with leading competing products demonstrate that you will enjoy savings while not sacrificing the quality of the stain when switching to an Acti-stain™ probe. Additionally, these probes are compatible with popular filter sets such as FITC, TRITC and Cy5. The combination of in-house manufacturing, stringent quality control and convenient packaging provides a great value. Give them a try and see for yourself.

Product Uses Include

• Stain F-actin in fixed cells
• Stabilize actin filaments in vitro
• Visualize actin filaments in vitro

 

Actin staining is very useful in determining the structure and function of the cytoskeleton in living and fixed cells. The actin cytoskeleton is a very dynamic and labile structure in the living cell, but it can be fixed with paraformaldehyde prior to probing or staining for actin structures. 

Acti-stain™ 488 phalloidin Cat. # PHDG1		Acti-stain™ 555 phalloidin Cat. # PHDH1		Acti-stain™ 670 phalloidin Cat. # PHDN1
Swiss 3T3 cell stained with anti-vinculin (red), Dapi (blue nucleus) and F-actin is stained with Acti-stain™ 488 (green F-actin, Cat.# PHDG1).		Swiss 3T3 cell with activated Rho, nucleus is stained with Dapi (blue) and F-actin is stained with Acti-stain™ 555 (red F-actin, Cat.# PHDH1).		Mitotic Swiss 3T3 cell, F-actin stained with Acti-stain™ 670 (far-red, Cat. # PHDN1), nuclear DNA stained with Dapi (blue).

Specifications: Figure 2. Emission and excitation scans for Acti-stain™ phalloidins
Absorbance and fluorescence scan of Acti-stain™ 488. Labeled phalloidin was diluted into methanol and its absorbance and excitation spectra were scanned between 350-750 and 500-750 nm, respectively. Absorbance peaks at 500 nm and fluorescence at 550 nm.	Absorbance and fluorescence scan of Acti-stain™ 555. Labeled phalloidin was diluted into methanol and its absorbance and excitation spectra were scanned between 300-750 and 560-750 nm, respectively. Absorbance peaks at 560 nm and fluorescence at 575 nm.	Absorbance and fluorescence scan of Acti-stain™ 670. Labeled phalloidin was diluted into methanol and its absorbance and excitation spectra were scanned between 300-750 and 600-750 nm, respectively. Absorbance peaks at 625 nm and fluorescence at 675 nm.

Acti-stain phalloidins are the most well characterized phalloidins available. Tabe 1 describes their brightness, photostability, background and affinity constants to F-actin. Compare these performance characteristics to other fluorescent phalloidins and you will see the advantages of using Acti-stain™ for your actin staining requirements.

Table 1. Biochemical characteristics of fluorescent phalloidins

* = AFU's measured by quantitative cell imaging. ** = Measured in stained Swiss 3T3 cells in the absence of antifade.

For more information about protocols to fix and stain cells click here.

Manuals and MSDS

Product	Cat.#	Manual	MSDS
Acti-stain™ 488	PHDG1
Acti-stain™ 555	PHDH1
Acti-stain™ 670	PHDN1

Related Products

• Rhodamine Phalloidin (red fluorescence fixed cell F-actin stain)
• F-actin Visualization Biochem Kit™ (rhodamine)
• Actin antibody (rabbit polyclonal)
• All Actin Products page
• Activation Assays
• G-LISA™ Small G-protein Activation Assays