Calcium plays a vital role in the regulation of cardiac contractility, growth and gene expression; consequently, calcium measurement is critical in numerous biological investigations. Fluorescent probes that show spectral responses upon Ca²⁺ binding have enabled researchers to investigate changes in intracellular free Ca²⁺ concentrations using techniques such as fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, fluorescence spectroscopy. Most of these fluorescent indicators are derivatives of BAPTA, chelators that incorporate a photo-induced-electron transfer (PET) system responsive to calcium. Instruments, such as FLIPR® and FlexStation^TM have enabled high throughput measurement of calcium for GPCR and ion channel research.

AnaSpec is pleased to highlight a wide selection of fluorescent Ca²⁺ indicators. These calcium indicators are of the highest quality and are cost-effective. They include UV-excitable and visible light-excitable calcium indicators.

Among the UV-excitable calcium indicators, Fura-2 and Indo-1 are the most commonly used. Fura-2 is excitation-ratioable while indo-1 is emission-ratioable. While Fluo-3 and Rhod-2 are the most commonly used among the visible light-excitable calcium indicators. Fluo-3 indicators are widely used in flow cytometry and confocal laser-scanning microscopy. More recently, Fluo-3, AM has been extensively used in cell-based HTS assays for functional GPCR assays. The long-wavelength Ca²⁺ indicators, Rhod-2 and X-rhod-1, are valuable alternatives to Fluo-3 for experiments in cells and tissues that have high autofluorescence.

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Breaking News: BD chooses AnaSpec to manufacture and supply the BD^TM H7, Calcein AM and DiIC12(3) fluorescent dyes.