BrdU(Proliferation Marker) Antibody (YA6399)

BrdU is a Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) is the most commonly used thymidine analog, which is incorporated into DNA during the S-phase of the cell cycle when DNA is single-stranded, allowing BrdU to bind to the thymidine base pair adenosine; since this only occurs during a fraction of the cell cycle, BrdU labels only a fraction of mitotic cells. Dissolved in saline and injected intraperitoneally, it crosses the blood-brain barrier and can label mitotic cells in the S-phase for up to 2 hours after injection; once incorporated into cells in the adult brain, BrdU remains through several cell divisions without substantial dilution, unlike in the postnatal brain where rapid neuronal division leads to significant dilution in a relatively short time. After euthanasia, brain tissue is fixed with paraformaldehyde, sectioned, and BrdU-containing cells are visualized via standard immunohistochemical techniques using antibodies specific to BrdU—antibody complexes react with peroxidase to give a brown color, or fluorescent secondary antibodies are used (fluorescent techniques allow labeling multiple antigens in a single cell). In neuroscience, BrdU is used to label proliferating cells, contributing to the formation of glia and neurons at specific central nervous system sites; in spinal cord transection experiments, labeled cells are found in lesion-bridging tissue, and in adult neurogenesis studies, it is often combined with glial or neuronal specific antibodies, though it does not determine cell fate alone. Its use is affected by protocol differences like dosage, administration time, animal age, and survival time, with other thymidine analogs (e.g., iododeoxyuridine, chlorodeoxyuridine) and retroviral vectors also used for labeling new cells.