Flow Cytometry - (Feb/03/2004 )

Do FL1 and FL3 need to be compensated for? I'm doing an Annexin-Fitc and PI staining for apoptosis and based on my plots, it looks as if I need to compensate which I don't really understand since these two dyes don't fluoresce at similar wavelengths.

Hello:

If you are having difficulties with compensation, FITC and PE-CY5 or PE-APC work well together. That is because there is minimal spectral overlap between these two dyes. However, compensation may still be needed between FL1 and FL3 (you will need to set FL2 signal on scale to compensate FL1 and FL3 through FL2).

Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH
The Science Advisory Board
http://www.scienceboard.net