The AldeRed ALDH Detection Kit provides cancer and stem cell scientists with new capabilities for live cell isolation and characterization. The AldeRed reagent is a red-shifted fluorescent substrate for aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), allowing cells to be identified and isolated by flow cytometry with concurrent use of green fluorescent cell lines, antibodies, transgenic animals and reporter assays.
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High ALDH activity serves as a universal marker of stem cells, both normal and malignant. Cells can be identified and isolated based upon the enzymatic activity of ALDH, a detoxifying enzyme responsible for oxidation of hazardous aldehyde byproducts. The marker ALDH has been used to isolate cancer stem cells from various human malignancies including bladder, breast, cervical, colon, head and neck, liver, lung, pancreas, prostate and ovary. The AldeRed assay employs a fluorescent and non-toxic ALDH substrate (AldeRed 588-A) that diffuses freely into intact and viable cells, but remains trapped inside the cells once converted by ALDH into the corresponding acid. The amount of fluorescence produced is proportional to the ALDH activity in the cells and is measured by flow cytometry, allowing fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). This kit supplies the ALDH inhibitor diethylaminobenzaldehyde (DEAB), which is used in negative control testing necessary for background fluorescence assessement.