CFSE staining protocol - (Jun/27/2009 )

Do somebody have a good protocol for CFSE staining ?
thanks

I use the CellTrace CFSE kit from Molecular Probes and so this is the protocol that I use, although I have modified it for use with bacteria

http://probes.invitrogen.com/media/pis/mp34554.pdf

SuMi on Jun 28 2009, 02:13 PM said:

I've got also a few questions about the CFSE staining. So far, I've found plenty of different protocols and some instructions seem to be even contradictory. So the questions are:

1) When putting CFSE to the cells, can I use normal DPBS or does it have to be PBS without Mg and Ca?

2) When suspending CFSE in PBS, does it have to containe BSA (or FCS) or will this even adversely affect the staining? Some protocols recommend the addition of 0.1% BSA to PBS, while other require completely protein-free solution as proteins would inhibit CFSE labeling. On one of the websites I found the explanation that for small cell numbers, CFSE is too toxic and so BSA has to be added in order to alleviate the toxic effect, but for large cell numbers this is not the case. What is your experience with it?

3) Do you incubate cells with CFSE at 37 C or at room temperature? And how long is the incubation time?

4) How many times do you wash the cells after labeling? And with what do you wash them?

5) Before flow cytometric analysis, do you fix the cells or not? If yes, do you use ethanol or paraformaldehyde fixation?

6) Do you use co-stainings? If yes, with which other dyes do you label the cells? Do you have a protocol for it?

1. I always use PBS without Ca and Mg. I don't know if they adversely effect staining.

2. I don't use BSA for CFSE staining. My bacterial cells are resuspended in PBS (-Ca -Mg) and then I add the CFSE to the bacterial cell suspension. The CFSE itself is lyophilized and is reconstituted in DMSO. (The CFSE from Invitrogen is resuspended in 18µl DMSO to give a stock concentration of 5mM CFSE).

3. I incubate my bacteria with CFSE at room temperature in the dark. Usually for 20 mins. I I normally put my tube on a shaker at 300rpm during the staining time just to make sure the CFSE is evenly distributed.

4. I wash my cells twice after staining using PBS.

5. I don't fix my cells before flow.

6. I only do CFSE staining.

@ canotto:
For bacteria I resuspend my lyophilized CFSE in DMSO as outlined above to give a stock of 5mM concentration. I then add 2µl of this stock to 1ml bacterial suspension. The bacteria can be at any concentration. Mine are usually either 1e8/ml or 1e9/ml. Stain for 20-30mins at room temperature in the dark. Wash twice in PBS and resuspend bacteria in 1ml PBS.

SuMi on Jul 24 2009, 04:59 PM said:

1. Either PBS or DPBS should be fine. We always used calcium and magnesium free DPBS but it really shouldn't matter.

2. If BSA is present, it will "eat up" the CFSE (the BSA will be dyed green). If you are staining a small number of cells, this will help prevent toxicity from over staining. Cells are not particularly fond of CFSE staining and too intense staining will cause cell death. If you are staining a large number of cells, the CFSE will just be soaking up the dye.

3. I incubate lymphocytes for 15 minutes at 37 degrees.

4. I wash one to two times with complete media (10% FBS).

5. The cells do not need to be fixed before analysis. If I can't analyze right away, I will fix with a 2-4% paraformaldehyde solution. I have never tried another fixation method.

6. The tricky part about costaining is getting the compensation right. CFSE spills over big time into the other channels. I have had my best luck with (this is on a FACs) dyes that are spectrally far apart from the green (APC or alexa 647 have never been a problem). I knew one person that got a 4 color Facs stain to work with CFSE but the compensation and set up was a nightmare!

miBunny on Aug 6 2009, 03:35 AM said:

I have not stained adherent cells. I would probably start by trypsinizing the cells and staining them in suspension.

miBunny on Aug 7 2009, 04:33 AM said: