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Advantages
Unique
Other caspase detection assays on the market work through substrate cleavage mechanisms or immunohistochemical principles. BioCarta Caspase Detection Kits utilize active caspase inhibition. Since apoptosis is arrested upon the binding of the reagent to the active caspase heterodimer, the apoptotic cell population does not diminish over time.
Easy to Use
No special buffer or media is needed. No preparation of cell lysates is required. Simple wash procedure.
Quick
Incubate for one hour, wash twice, and measure. No time course studies are necessary.
Adaptable
Works in diverse cell lines: human, rodent, Drosophila. Can be performed in conjunction with Annexin staining, TUNEL, antibody staining, or with other reagents on the same population of cells. Permits high throughput screening. Protocol can be adapted for ex vivo as well as in situ experiments.
Non-Cytotoxic
Arrests further apoptotic activity via caspase inhibition.
Cell Permeable
Permits direct visualization of cytosolic apoptotic events.
Compatible with Multiple Fluorometric Modalities
Fluorescence microscopy. 96-well fluorescence plate reader. Flow cytometry.
Reliable
Yields both quantitative and qualitative results. Gives strong signal with little background noise.
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Legend: Jurkat cells treated with DMSO (A) or camptothecin (B). Cells were labeled with FAM-VAD-FMK for 1 hour. Caspase activity was detected using flow cytometry.
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