Set of Citifluor CFPVOH plus AF100 anti-fadent

These mounting media are designed to reduce the fading of the fluorescence of dyes used for labelling biological specimens.
In fluorescence microscopy, the fluorescence is stimulated by high intensity UV and/or visible light. Absorption of the light creates an excited state of the dye (usually a singlet state) and this leads to fluorescence. However, the excited state of the dye may undergo chemical reactions which lead to its destruction as evidenced by the fading or bleaching of the fluorescence and consequent loss of the image, or in the case of assays, a change in signal intensity during measurement.

There is no universal anti-fadent; due to the varied nature of biological material the fluorescence fading of fluorochromic conjugates is a complex process.
The general anti-fadents are AF1, AF2 and AF3. AF87 is a specialist immersion oil-based anti-fadent.

AF1 is an anti-fadent (anti-bleaching agent) contained in a glycerol PBS (phosphate-buffered saline) solution and is particularly useful for examining tissue sections.
AF2 solution contains the anti-fadent in glycerol which enables users to choose their own buffer.
AF3 which contains the anti-fadent in PBS solution, is particularly useful for examining live cells.
AF87 contains the anti-fadent in a nonfluorescent immersion oil. It is designed for those wanting to work at a high magnification. It is particularly useful for preventing the fading of such dyes as DAPI which have the unfortunate tendency to disperse in glycerol based mountant solutions.
CFPVOH is an aqueous solution of polyvinyl alcohol for use as a solid mountant. A few drops of the solution applied to your specimen and allowed to dry will produce a clear film.
AF100 is a solution of anti-fadents to be used with CFPVOH when fading of fluorescence in the polyvinyl alcohol is a problem. To prepare a CFPVOH solution containing AF100, add 0.1mL of AF100 to 0.9mL of CFPVOH. If more or less of the solid mountant solution is required, mix the reagents in the appropriate ratio. Once these solutions have been made up, they should be used within a period of days rather than months, since the solutions deteriorate on storage.

These products have a long shelf life, at least 2 years, and can be stored at room temperature. With an LD50 of >2000 mg/kg (rat) none of the solutions should pose a toxicological problem.

Safety Data Sheet