JC-1 | Mitochondrial membrane potential probe

JC-1 (CAS 3520-43-2) is a dual emission, potential-sensitive, carbocyanine probe which can be used to measure mitochondrial membrane potential.  When excited at 490 nm the monomer exhibits an emission maximum at 527 nm and J-aggregates at 590 nm.^1,2  JC-1 changes color reversibly from green to red with increasing mitochondrial membrane potential.³  May be used for isolation of live cells expressing high multidrug resistance transport activity.⁴  A widely used probe for determination of mitochondrial membrane potential.⁵

References/Citations:

1) Reers et al. (1991), J-aggregate formation of a carbocyanine as a quantitative fluorescent indicator of membrane potential; Biochemistry, 30 4480
2) Smiley et al. (1991), Intracellular heterogeneity in mitochondrial membrane potentials revealed by a J-aggregate-forming lipophilic cation JC-1; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 88 3671
3) Lisa et al. (1995), Mitochondrial membrane potential in single living adult rat cardiac myocytes exposed to anoxia or metabolic inhibition; J. Physiol., 486 1
4) Wolosin et al. (2017), Application of JC1 for non-toxic isolation of cells with MDR transporter activity by flow cytometry; PLoS One, 12(4) e0174905
5) Wang et al. (2017), A novel cytoprotective peptide protects mesenchymal stem cells against mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis induced by starvation via Nrf2/Sirt3/FoxO3a pathway; J. Transl. Med., 15 33