JC-10 Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Assay Kit (Microplate)

JC-10 Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Assay Kit (Microplate) ab112134 enables researchers to analyze a JC-10 assay with a microplate reader. The JC-10 assay provides the most robust assay method for monitoring mitochondria membrane potential changes.

This mitochondrial membrane potential assay protocol is based on the detection of the mitochondrial membrane potential changes in cells by the cationic, lipophilic JC-10 dye. In normal cells, JC-10 concentrates in the mitochondrial matrix where it forms red fluorescent aggregates. However, in apoptotic and necrotic cells, JC-10 diffuses out of mitochondria. It changes to monomeric form and stains cells in green fluorescence.

Although JC-1 is widely used in many labs, its poor water solubility causes great inconvenience. Even at 1 μM concentration, JC-1 tends to precipitate in aqueous buffer. JC-10 is developed to be a superior alternative to JC-1 when high dye concentration is desired. Compared to JC-1, JC-10 has much better water solubility. JC-10 is capable of selectively entering mitochondria, and reversibly changes its color from green to orange as membrane potentials increase. This property is due to the reversible formation of JC-10 aggregates upon membrane polarization that causes shifts in emitted light from 520 nm (i.e. emission of JC-10 monomeric form) to 570 nm (i.e. emission of J-aggregate form). When excited at 490 nm, the color of JC-10 changes reversibly from green to greenish orange as the mitochondrial membrane becomes more polarized.

In normal cells, JC-10 concentrates in the mitochondrial matrix where it forms red fluorescent aggregates. However, in apoptotic and necrotic cells, JC-10 exists in monomeric form and stains cells green. The green emission can be analyzed in fluorescence channel 1 (FL1) and greenish orange emission in channel 2 (FL2). Besides its use in fluorescence microplate platform, it can also be used in fluorescence imaging and flow cytometry.

A microplate reader with bottom-reading mode is essential to perform this assay. If you would like to use JC-10 on a flow cytometer, we recommend . **Related assays** Review the to learn about kits to perform a , and . Review the to learn about assays for metabolites, metabolic enzymes, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, and also about how to assay metabolic function in live cells using your plate reader.