title: Toxicity of "DiI" for embryonic rat motoneurons and sensory neurons in vitro.
abstract: The carbocyanine dye DiIC18(3) ("DiI") is commonly used for both anterograde and retrograde labeling of neurons, including live neurons in situ and in vitro. In the present experiments, DiIC18(3) was used to label motoneurons in the spinal cords and sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia of embryonic rats. When the neurons from these regions were placed in culture, the neurons labeled by the dye were found to die rapidly, suggesting that DiIC18(3) can be toxic to neurons of these types. A related dye, DiIC12(3), was found to be equally suitable for labeling these neurons, and was found not to have detectable toxic effects in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson 85724.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: St John
mesh_terms: D000345:Affinity Labels / Q000633:toxicity; D000818:Animals; D002232:Carbocyanines / Q000633:toxicity*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000633:toxicity; D007700:Kinetics; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D000345:Affinity Labels; D002232:Carbocyanines; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; C024286:3,3'-dioctadecylindocarbocyanine; C072024:carbocyanine dye DiIC12(3)