fluorescent medium

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Paul Herzmark Paul Herzmark
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fluorescent medium

Hi all,
Does anyone have any suggestions for low fluorescing mammalian cell media?

We use DMEM and RPMI media without phenol red and they both have too much background fluorescence. The fluorescence is strong in the GFP channel with both one photon and two photon (around 900) excitation.

If you have any idea what is fluorescing in those media please tell me. I know I will eventually have to test variations to find what also keeps the cells happy.

Thanks for any and all ideas!
Paul


Paul Herzmark
Specialist
[hidden email]

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
479 Life Science Addition
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
(510) 643-9603

Johnson, Iain Johnson, Iain
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Re: fluorescent medium

Hi Paul:
 
My guess would be riboflavin (emission peak ~540 nm).  According to my notes, DMEM contains 0.4 mg/L riboflavin.  One possible alternative is Ham's F12, which is only 0.04 mg/L riboflavin.
 
Iain
From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Paul Herzmark
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:39 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: fluorescent medium

Hi all,
Does anyone have any suggestions for low fluorescing mammalian cell media?

We use DMEM and RPMI media without phenol red and they both have too much background fluorescence. The fluorescence is strong in the GFP channel with both one photon and two photon (around 900) excitation.

If you have any idea what is fluorescing in those media please tell me. I know I will eventually have to test variations to find what also keeps the cells happy.

Thanks for any and all ideas!
Paul


Paul Herzmark
Specialist
[hidden email]

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
479 Life Science Addition
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
(510) 643-9603

Kurt Thorn Kurt Thorn
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Re: fluorescent medium

In reply to this post by Paul Herzmark
I can tell you from personal experience formulating low fluorescence
yeast media that riboflavin and folic acid are both fluorescent.  I also
found that commercial media without these vitamins was still
fluorescent, but that if I made it myself from components it was
completely non-fluorescent.  So I suspect that some of the commercial
(yeast) media are not that pure and contain fluorescent impurities.

No idea how much of this will apply to mammalian cell media, but I would
definitely try removing riboflavin and folic acid if present.  
Riboflavin was the more fluorescent of the two.

Kurt

Paul Herzmark wrote:

> Hi all,
> Does anyone have any suggestions for low fluorescing mammalian cell media?
>
> We use DMEM and RPMI media without phenol red and they both have too
> much background fluorescence. The fluorescence is strong in the GFP
> channel with both one photon and two photon (around 900) excitation.
>
> If you have any idea what is fluorescing in those media please tell
> me. I know I will eventually have to test variations to find what also
> keeps the cells happy.
>
> Thanks for any and all ideas!
> Paul
>
>
> Paul Herzmark
> Specialist
> [hidden email] <mailto:[hidden email]>
>
> Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
> 479 Life Science Addition
> University of California, Berkeley
> Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
> (510) 643-9603
>


--
Kurt Thorn, PhD
Director, Nikon Imaging Center
University of California San Francisco

UCSF MC 2140
Genentech Hall Room S252
600 16th St.
San Francisco, CA 94158-2517

http://nic.ucsf.edu
phone 415.514.9709
fax   415.514.4300
Sylvie Le Guyader-2 Sylvie Le Guyader-2
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Re: fluorescent medium

In reply to this post by Johnson, Iain

Hi there

 

I agree that riboflavin is the likely cause of your autofluorescence, more so than phenol red. F12 has less riboflavin but a lot of Vit B12 which also fluoresces in that range if I remember well. MEM has no Vit B12 and less riboflavin as DMEM so it could be worth trying it along with F12.

 

It is also important to use medium that is in as fresh as possible so exposed to light as little as possible and with little temperature variation during storage. Warming up the whole bottle of medium at every passage is fine if the bottle is used within a week or 10 days but otherwise I would warm up aliquots and keep the stock in the fridge.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Med vänlig hälsning / Best regards

 

Sylvie

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Sylvie Le Guyader

Dept of Biosciences and Nutrition

Karolinska Institutet

Novum

14157 Huddinge

Sweden

+46 (0)8 608 9240


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Johnson, Iain
Sent: 22 December 2008 23:57
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: fluorescent medium

 

Hi Paul:

 

My guess would be riboflavin (emission peak ~540 nm).  According to my notes, DMEM contains 0.4 mg/L riboflavin.  One possible alternative is Ham's F12, which is only 0.04 mg/L riboflavin.

 

Iain


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Paul Herzmark
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:39 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: fluorescent medium

Hi all,
Does anyone have any suggestions for low fluorescing mammalian cell media?

We use DMEM and RPMI media without phenol red and they both have too much background fluorescence. The fluorescence is strong in the GFP channel with both one photon and two photon (around 900) excitation.

If you have any idea what is fluorescing in those media please tell me. I know I will eventually have to test variations to find what also keeps the cells happy.

Thanks for any and all ideas!
Paul


Paul Herzmark
Specialist
[hidden email]

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
479 Life Science Addition
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
(510) 643-9603

Brotchie, Daniel Brotchie, Daniel
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Re: fluorescent medium

Hi,

 

For conventional fluorescence imaging, Chroma have a GFP filter set modified to minimise detection of flavin autofluorescence:

 

http://www.chroma.com/index.php?option=com_products&Itemid=53&task=details&productType=set&id=116

 

Anybody know the excitation spectra of riboflavin? Chroma also have a GFP UV filter set that excites at 375-425, making use of GFP UV’s 395 nm excitation peak rather than its less optimum 478 peak:

 

http://www.chroma.com/index.php?option=com_products&Itemid=53&task=details&productType=set&id=70

 

No commercial interest.

 

Daniel

------------------------------------------------

Daniel Brotchie

Ophthalmology

School of Clinical Sciences

University Clinical Departments

The Duncan Building

Daulby Street

LIVERPOOL

L69 3GA

UK

 

Tel: +44 (0) 151 706 4017

Fax: +44 (0) 151 706 5934

E-mail [hidden email]

 

From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Sylvie Le Guyader
Sent: 29 December 2008 12:55
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: fluorescent medium

 

Hi there

 

I agree that riboflavin is the likely cause of your autofluorescence, more so than phenol red. F12 has less riboflavin but a lot of Vit B12 which also fluoresces in that range if I remember well. MEM has no Vit B12 and less riboflavin as DMEM so it could be worth trying it along with F12.

 

It is also important to use medium that is in as fresh as possible so exposed to light as little as possible and with little temperature variation during storage. Warming up the whole bottle of medium at every passage is fine if the bottle is used within a week or 10 days but otherwise I would warm up aliquots and keep the stock in the fridge.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Med vänlig hälsning / Best regards

 

Sylvie

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Sylvie Le Guyader

Dept of Biosciences and Nutrition

Karolinska Institutet

Novum

14157 Huddinge

Sweden

+46 (0)8 608 9240


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Johnson, Iain
Sent: 22 December 2008 23:57
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: fluorescent medium

 

Hi Paul:

 

My guess would be riboflavin (emission peak ~540 nm).  According to my notes, DMEM contains 0.4 mg/L riboflavin.  One possible alternative is Ham's F12, which is only 0.04 mg/L riboflavin.

 

Iain


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Paul Herzmark
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:39 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: fluorescent medium

Hi all,
Does anyone have any suggestions for low fluorescing mammalian cell media?

We use DMEM and RPMI media without phenol red and they both have too much background fluorescence. The fluorescence is strong in the GFP channel with both one photon and two photon (around 900) excitation.

If you have any idea what is fluorescing in those media please tell me. I know I will eventually have to test variations to find what also keeps the cells happy.

Thanks for any and all ideas!
Paul


Paul Herzmark
Specialist
[hidden email]

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
479 Life Science Addition
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
(510) 643-9603

Ignatius, Mike Ignatius, Mike
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Re: Low fluorescent medium

Hi,
 
The company, Brain Bits, makes a product Hibernate A 500 low fluorescence  .  If you search their site you will find a graph that shows that phenol red acts as a dye quencher rather than as an autofluorescent source itself.  Quenches the flavins and folic acid and other dyes of course
 
 
So when you remove the phenol red, you need to lower the flavin/folic acid concentrations, which they have done.  So really not just low fluorescence media, but this data would suggest an additional benefit as a fluorescence brightener if phenol red is removed.  Anyone compare?
 
No commercial interest.
 
Mike Ignatius 
 
Molecular Probes/Life Technologies


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Brotchie, Daniel
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 8:50 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: fluorescent medium

Hi,

 

For conventional fluorescence imaging, Chroma have a GFP filter set modified to minimise detection of flavin autofluorescence:

 

http://www.chroma.com/index.php?option=com_products&Itemid=53&task=details&productType=set&id=116

 

Anybody know the excitation spectra of riboflavin? Chroma also have a GFP UV filter set that excites at 375-425, making use of GFP UV’s 395 nm excitation peak rather than its less optimum 478 peak:

 

http://www.chroma.com/index.php?option=com_products&Itemid=53&task=details&productType=set&id=70

 

No commercial interest.

 

Daniel

------------------------------------------------

Daniel Brotchie

Ophthalmology

School of Clinical Sciences

University Clinical Departments

The Duncan Building

Daulby Street

LIVERPOOL

L69 3GA

UK

 

Tel: +44 (0) 151 706 4017

Fax: +44 (0) 151 706 5934

E-mail [hidden email]

 

From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Sylvie Le Guyader
Sent: 29 December 2008 12:55
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: fluorescent medium

 

Hi there

 

I agree that riboflavin is the likely cause of your autofluorescence, more so than phenol red. F12 has less riboflavin but a lot of Vit B12 which also fluoresces in that range if I remember well. MEM has no Vit B12 and less riboflavin as DMEM so it could be worth trying it along with F12.

 

It is also important to use medium that is in as fresh as possible so exposed to light as little as possible and with little temperature variation during storage. Warming up the whole bottle of medium at every passage is fine if the bottle is used within a week or 10 days but otherwise I would warm up aliquots and keep the stock in the fridge.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Med vänlig hälsning / Best regards

 

Sylvie

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Sylvie Le Guyader

Dept of Biosciences and Nutrition

Karolinska Institutet

Novum

14157 Huddinge

Sweden

+46 (0)8 608 9240


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Johnson, Iain
Sent: 22 December 2008 23:57
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: fluorescent medium

 

Hi Paul:

 

My guess would be riboflavin (emission peak ~540 nm).  According to my notes, DMEM contains 0.4 mg/L riboflavin.  One possible alternative is Ham's F12, which is only 0.04 mg/L riboflavin.

 

Iain


From: Confocal Microscopy List [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Paul Herzmark
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 2:39 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: fluorescent medium

Hi all,
Does anyone have any suggestions for low fluorescing mammalian cell media?

We use DMEM and RPMI media without phenol red and they both have too much background fluorescence. The fluorescence is strong in the GFP channel with both one photon and two photon (around 900) excitation.

If you have any idea what is fluorescing in those media please tell me. I know I will eventually have to test variations to find what also keeps the cells happy.

Thanks for any and all ideas!
Paul


Paul Herzmark
Specialist
[hidden email]

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
479 Life Science Addition
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA  94720-3200
(510) 643-9603