Zombie Violet™ Fixable Viability Kit

Pricing & Availability
Regulatory Status
RUO
Other Names
Fixable Dye, Fixable Viability Dye
Ave. Rating
Submit a Review
Product Citations
publications
a-Zombie_Violet_Viability_Dye_012714
One day old C57BL/6 mouse splenocytes were stained with Zombie Violet™ and analyzed before fixation (purple) or after fixation and permeabilization (red). Cells alone, without Zombie Violet™ staining, are indicated in black.
  • a-Zombie_Violet_Viability_Dye_012714
    One day old C57BL/6 mouse splenocytes were stained with Zombie Violet™ and analyzed before fixation (purple) or after fixation and permeabilization (red). Cells alone, without Zombie Violet™ staining, are indicated in black.
  • b-Zombie_Violet_Kit_ICC_012721
    HeLa cells were treated with 20% EtOH for 20 seconds, washed twice with PBS, and then were left to recover for five minutes with cell culture media in 37°C. The cells were stained with Zombie Violet™ (1:1000) (magenta) for 15 minutes and then fixed with 1% paraformaldehyde (PFA) for ten minutes. Nuclei were counterstained with DRAQ5 (blue) for five minutes. The image was captured with 40X objective.
See Zombie Violet™ spectral data
Cat # Size Price Quantity Check Availability Save
423113 100 tests 67€
Check Availability


Need larger quantities of this item?
Request Bulk Quote
423114 500 tests 235€
Check Availability


Need larger quantities of this item?
Request Bulk Quote
Description

Zombie Violet™ is an amine-reactive fluorescent dye that is non-permeant to live cells but permeant to the cells with compromised membranes. Thus, it can be used to assess live vs. dead status of mammalian cells. Zombie Violet™ is a polar, water soluble dye providing violet fluorescence, making it suitable for multi-color detection.

Product Details
Technical data sheet

Product Details

Preparation
Zombie Violet™ Fixable Viability Kit is composed of lyophilized Zombie Violet™ dye and anhydrous DMSO. For reconstitution, bring the kit to room temperature; add 100 µl of DMSO to one vial of Zombie Violet™ dye until fully dissolved. 100 tests = 1 vial of Zombie Violet™ + DMSO, 500 tests = 5 vials of Zombie Violet™ + DMSO.
Storage & Handling
Store kit at -20°C upon receipt. Do not open vials until needed. Once the DMSO is added to the Zombie Violet™ dye, use immediately, or store at -20°C in a dry place and protected from light, preferably in a desiccator or in a container with desiccant for no more than one month.
Application

FC, ICFC - Quality tested
ICC - Verified

Recommended Usage

Each lot of this product is quality control tested by immunofluorescent staining with flow cytometric analysis. For flow cytometry, the suggested dilution is 1:100-1:1000 for 1-10 million cells. For immunocytochemistry, the suggested dilution is 1:1000. It is recommended that the reagent be titrated for optimal performance for each application, as optimal dosage varies with cell type.

Excitation Laser
Violet Laser (405 nm)
Application Notes

Zombie Violet™ dye is excited by the Violet laser (405 nm) and has fluorescence emission maximum at 423 nm. If using in a multi-color panel design, filter optimization may be required depending on other fluorophores used. Zombie Violet™ dye has similar emission to Brilliant Violet 421™.

Standard Cell Staining Protocol:

  1. Prior to reconstitution, spin down the vial of lyophilized reagent in a microcentrofuge to ensure the reagent is at the bottom of the vial.
  2. For reconstitution, pre-warm the kit to room temperature; add 100 µL of DMSO to one vial of Zombie Violet™ dye and mix until fully dissolved
  3. Wash cells with PBS buffer (no Tris buffer and protein free).
  4. Dilute Zombie Violet™ dye at 1:100-1000 in PBS. Resuspend 1-10 x 106 cells in diluted 100 µL Zombie Violet™ solution. To minimize background staining of live cells, titrate the amount of dye and/or number of cells per 100 µL for optimal performance. Different cell types can have a wide degree of variability in staining based on cell size and degree of cell death.
    • Note: Don’t use Tris buffer as a diluent and be sure that the PBS does not contain any other protein like BSA or FBS.
    • Note: The amount of dye used can also influence the ability to detect apoptotic as well as live and dead cells.
  5. Incubate the cells at room temperature (or 4°C), in the dark, for 15-30 minutes.
  6. Wash one time with 2 mL BioLegend’s Cell Staining Buffer (Cat. No. 420201) or equivalent buffer containing serum or BSA.
  7. Continue performing antibody staining procedure as desired.
  8. Cells can be fixed with paraformaldehyde or methanol prior to permeabilization or can be analyzed without fixation.

No-wash Sequential Staining Protocol:

  1. Wash cells with PBS buffer (no Tris buffer and protein free).
  2. For reconstitution, pre-warm the kit to room temperature; add 100 µL of DMSO to one vial of Zombie Violet™ dye and mix until fully dissolved
  3. Determine the total µL volume of antibody cocktail previously titrated and optimized for the assay that will be added to each vial/well of cells based on a final volume of 100 µL. Subtract that antibody volume from the 100 µL total staining volume intended for the assay. In the remaining volume, dilute Zombie Violet™ dye at 1:100-1000 in PBS as determined by prior optimization at that volume. For example, if you are adding 20 µL of antibody cocktail for a 100 µL total staining volume, use 80 µL of Zombie Violet™ solution. Resuspend 1-10 x 106 cells in the appropriate volume of Zombie Violet™ solution. Different cell types can have a wide degree of variability in staining based on cell size and degree of cell death.
    • Note: Don’t use Tris buffer as a diluent and be sure that the PBS does not contain any other protein like BSA or FBS.
    • Note: The amount of dye used can also influence the ability to detect apoptotic as well as live and dead cells.
  4. Incubate for 10-15 minutes at RT (or 4°C), protected from light. Without washing the cells, add the cell surface antibody cocktail and incubate for another 15-20 minutes.
  5. Add 1-2 mL Cell Staining Buffer (Cat. No. 420201) or equivalent buffer containing BSA or serum. Centrifuge to pellet.
  6. Continue with normal fixation and permeabilization procedure. If planning to skip fixation and analyze cells live, complete an additional wash step to minimize any unnecessary background of the live cells.
    • Notes: If the cell type in use cannot tolerate a protein-free environment, then titrate the Zombie Violet™ dye in the presence of the same amount of BSA/serum as will be present in the antibody staining procedure. A higher amount of Zombie Violet™ may be required since the BSA/serum will react with and bind up some proportion of the Zombie Violet™.
Product Citations
  1. Laczkó-Rigó R, et al. 2021. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 429:115704. PubMed
  2. Tiu GC, et al. 2021. Dev Cell. 56:2089. PubMed
  3. Nourse JL, et al. 2022. J Gen Physiol. 154:. PubMed
  4. Fujii K, et al. 2021. Dev Cell. 56:2928. PubMed
  5. Bettke JA, et al. 2022. Infect Immun. 90:e0007022. PubMed
  6. Maughan EF, et al. 2022. iScience. 25:105409. PubMed
  7. Manzano-Muñoz A, et al. 2022. NPJ Precis Oncol. 6:90. PubMed
  8. Tsuzuki H, et al. 2022. Oncotarget. 13:1359. PubMed
  9. Tregoning JS, et al. 2023. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids. 31:29. PubMed
  10. Peng Q, et al. 2023. EMBO Rep. 24:e56034. PubMed
  11. Nyberg WA, et al. 2023. Cell. 186:446. PubMed
  12. Vondra S, et al. 2023. Cell Rep. 42:111977. PubMed
  13. Pan R, et al. 2022. Cell. 185:1521. PubMed
  14. Zhuo Y, et al. 2022. J Immunother Cancer. 10:. PubMed
  15. Vajda F, et al. 2022. Cells. 11:. PubMed
  16. Lareau CA, et al. 2023. Nat Protoc. 18:1416. PubMed
  17. Battistello E, et al. 2023. Mol Cell. 83:1216. PubMed
  18. von Hofsten S, et al. 2023. Front Pharmacol. 14:1141669. PubMed
  19. Sun R, et al. 2023. PLoS One. 18:e0282722. PubMed
  20. Chaen T, et al. 2023. Biochem Biophys Rep. 34:101478. PubMed
  21. Stanzione M, et al. 2022. Sci Adv. 8:eabn1229. PubMed
  22. Jiang Q, et al. 2022. Theranostics. 12:59. PubMed
  23. Zhou J, et al. 2021. Int J Med Sci. 18:3516. PubMed
  24. Zhen A, et al. 2021. PLoS Pathog. 17:e1009404. PubMed
  25. Khan KA, et al. 2020. NPJ Breast Cancer. 6:29. PubMed
  26. Jaeger BN, et al. 2020. STAR Protoc. 1:100081. PubMed
  27. Donegan J, et al. 2016. Mol Psychiatry. 10.1038/mp.2016.121. PubMed
  28. Meryk A et al. 2019. Cell reports. 26(10):2681-2691 . PubMed
  29. Arumugam T, et al. 2016. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 10.1177/0271678X16661201. PubMed
  30. Alcon C, et al. 2020. Cell Death Dis. 0.898611111. PubMed
  31. Ma X, et al. 2022. Cell Mol Immunol. . PubMed
  32. Teunissen M, et al. 2022. Stem Cell Res Ther. 13:457. PubMed
  33. McComb S, et al. 2022. Front Immunol. 13:864868. PubMed
  34. Michaud D, et al. 2022. Front Immunol. 12:745873. PubMed
  35. Costa-Martins AG, et al. 2021. Cell Rep Med. 2:100465. PubMed
  36. Chen W, et al. 2021. Nat Microbiol. 6:455. PubMed
  37. Barberio AE, et al. 2020. ACS Nano. 14:11238. PubMed
  38. Rothchild AC, et al. 2020. Bio Protoc. 10:00. PubMed
  39. Nath A, et al. 2015. Sci Rep. 5: 14752. PubMed
  40. Sun CC, et al. 2020. Genome Med. 0.553472222. PubMed
  41. Knowles DA, et al. 2018. Elife. 7:e33480. PubMed
  42. Neidleman J, et al. 2020. Cell Rep Med. 100081:1. PubMed
  43. Nielsen SS, et al. 2021. EBioMedicine. 68:103410. PubMed
  44. Wang Y, et al. 2021. Nat Commun. 12:2343. PubMed
  45. Kip P, et al. 2021. Nutrients. 13:. PubMed
  46. Xiao P, et al. 2022. Cell Death Dis. 13:476. PubMed
  47. Sugimoto C, et al. 2022. Elife. 11:. PubMed
  48. Tang D, et al. 2020. Br J Haematol. 191:906. PubMed
  49. Vickman RE, et al. 2020. Prostate. 80:173. PubMed
  50. Akagi T, et al. 2022. Front Immunol. 13:926175. PubMed
  51. Shukla A, et al. 2021. Adv Nanobiomed Res. 1:. PubMed
  52. Pan Y, et al. 2021. Kidney Int. S0085-2538:001032. PubMed
  53. Canakci M, et al. 2020. Biomacromolecules. 21:2473. PubMed
  54. Cai EP, et al. 2020. Nat Metab. 0.731944444. PubMed
  55. McQuade A, et al. 2020. Nat Commun. 4.1875. PubMed
  56. Ma X et al. 2019. eLife. 8 pii: e42426. PubMed
  57. Hydes T, et al. 2017. Immun Inflamm Dis. 10.1002/iid3.190. PubMed
  58. Khan KA, et al. 2020. NPJ Breast Cancer. 6:29. PubMed
  59. Michaud D, et al. 2020. Cytokine. 125:154817. PubMed
  60. Wei SC, et al. 2020. Cancer Discov. . PubMed
  61. Poonpanichakul T, et al. 2021. Front Immunol. 12:599805. PubMed
  62. Shepard A, et al. 2021. J Biol Chem. 297:100962. PubMed
  63. Gatla H, et al. 2022. Front Med Technol. 4:850565. PubMed
  64. Genuth NR, et al. 2022. Nat Commun. 13:5491. PubMed
  65. Coelho PP, et al. 2022. Nat Commun. 13:3812. PubMed
  66. Luo W, et al. 2022. Front Immunol. 13:816761. PubMed
  67. Leonard NA, et al. 2021. Cancers (Basel). 13:. PubMed
  68. Prakash P, et al. 2021. Chem Sci. 12:10901. PubMed
  69. Sweeney EE, et al. 2020. Nano Res. 13:736. PubMed
  70. Busch CJ, et al. 2019. Bio Protoc. 9:e3302. PubMed
  71. Barman PK, et al. 2019. J Immunol. 202:2720. PubMed
  72. McLaughlin PA et al. 2019. PLoS Pathog. 15(7):e1007847 . PubMed
  73. Maritz MF, et al. 2018. PLoS One. 13:e0196043. PubMed
  74. Schadt L, et al. 2020. Cell Reports. 29(5):1236-1248.e7.. PubMed
  75. Yu M, et al. 2020. Nat Commun. 11:515. PubMed
  76. Su S, et al. 2020. Mol Biol Cell. :mbcE20040232. PubMed
  77. Ward MC, et al. 2021. Elife. 10: . PubMed
  78. Wu Y, et al. 2021. Nat Commun. 12:2346. PubMed
  79. Du Y, et al. 2022. Nat Commun. 13:231. PubMed
  80. Scarneo SA, et al. 2022. Sci Rep. 12:18091. PubMed
  81. Durham E, et al. 2019. Stem Cell Res. 40:101528. PubMed
  82. Ray RM, et al. 2019. Sci Rep. 9:4334. PubMed
  83. Bankoti R, et al. 2017. Sci Rep. 10.1038/s41598-017-12171-3. PubMed
  84. Surdziel E, et al. 2017. PLoS One.. 10.1371/journal.pone.0183679. PubMed
  85. He J, et al. 2019. J Clin Invest. 130. PubMed
  86. Hafner G, et al. 2019. Cell Rep. 28:3450. PubMed
  87. Jones A, et al. 2015. J Immunol. 195: 1489-1497. PubMed
  88. Rai MA, et al. 2020. Retrovirology. 17:35. PubMed
  89. An Y, et al. 2021. Sci Rep. 6392:11. PubMed
  90. Hills LB, et al. 2021. J Immunol. 206:89. PubMed
  91. Hao C, et al. 2021. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 9:695015. PubMed
  92. Coronel MM, et al. 2020. Sci Adv. 6:eaba5573. PubMed
  93. Doron H, et al. 2019. Cell Rep. 28:1785. PubMed
  94. Bhattacharya A, et al. 2018. Neuropsychopharmacology. 43:2586. PubMed
  95. Kim MR, et al. 2020. Nat Commun. 3.681944444. PubMed
  96. Pothlichet J, et al. 2020. J Clin Invest. 130:2872. PubMed
  97. Patir A, et al. 2020. Sci Rep. 10:21047. PubMed
  98. Valeff NJ, et al. 2022. Front Immunol. 13:873493. PubMed
  99. Rogers LM, et al. 2020. Cancer Immunol Res. 1206:8. PubMed
  100. Kanemaru K, et al. 2015. PLoS One. 10: 0144436. PubMed
  101. Leung EYL, et al. 2020. Mol Ther Oncolytics. 16:289. PubMed
  102. Wohlfahrt T, et al. 2019. Nature. 566:344. PubMed
  103. Kobia FM, et al. 2020. PLoS Biol. 18:e3000850. PubMed
  104. de la Fuente AG, et al. 2020. Mol Cell Proteomics. 1.68125. PubMed
  105. de la Fuente AG, et al. 2020. Mol Cell Proteomics. 19:1281. PubMed
  106. Cartwright ANR, et al. 2021. Cancer Immunol Res. 9:470. PubMed
  107. Manzano-Muñoz A, et al. 2021. Front Cell Dev Biol. 9:695225. PubMed
  108. Hurov K, et al. 2021. J Immunother Cancer. 9:. PubMed
  109. Câmara DR, et al. 2022. Reprod Domest Anim. 57:10. PubMed
  110. Lopez P, et al. 2022. Cell Rep. 38:110406. PubMed
  111. Alcon C, et al. 2021. Cells. 10:. PubMed
  112. Pali-Schöll I, et al. 2022. Clin Transl Allergy. 12:e12125. PubMed
  113. Deng Y, et al. 2021. Nat Commun. 12:7041. PubMed
  114. Palmerin N, et al. 2021. Viruses. 13:. PubMed
  115. Phan TS, et al. 2021. Sci Adv. 7:. PubMed
  116. Lim RM, et al. 2020. ACS Chem Biol. 15:2299. PubMed
  117. Li MY, et al. 2021. Developmental Cell. 56:2547. PubMed
  118. Oprescu SN, et al. 2020. STAR Protoc. 1:100051. PubMed
  119. Ward MC, et al. 2019. Elife. 8. PubMed
  120. Bradley T et al. 2018. Cell reports. 25(1):107-117 . PubMed
  121. Enyedi K, et al. 2017. PLoS One. 12(6):e0178632. PubMed
  122. Vickman RE, et al. 2019. Mol Cancer Res. 17:1253. PubMed
  123. Dokoshi T, et al. 2020. Cell Rep. 30:61. PubMed
  124. Babon J, et al. 2016. Nat Med. 10.1038/nm.4203. PubMed
  125. Rothchild A, et al. 2016. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 113: E6172 - E6181. PubMed
  126. Messerer DAC, et al. 2020. Front Immunol. 11:571992. PubMed
  127. Wang YJ, et al. 2021. Sci Rep. 11:8054. PubMed
  128. Denoth-Lippuner A, et al. 2021. Cell Stem Cell. 28:2020. PubMed
  129. Sobecki M, et al. 2022. Cell Stem Cell. 29:1459. PubMed
  130. Yue F, et al. 2022. Cell Rep. 38:110267. PubMed
  131. Malani D, et al. 2021. Cancer Discov. Online ahead of print. PubMed
  132. Forconi CS, et al. 2021. Cancers (Basel). 13:. PubMed
  133. Wang Y, et al. 2021. Cell Reports. 36(6):109516. PubMed
  134. Ye J, et al. 2019. Front Oncol. 8:631. PubMed
  135. Boehm D et al. 2017. Cell host & microbe. 21(5):569-579 . PubMed
  136. Maillet A, Tan K, and Brunham L. 2017. Curr Protoc Toxicol. 10.1002/cptx.30. PubMed
  137. Akhand SS, et al. 2020. Cancer Immunol Res. 8:1542. PubMed
  138. Ulferts R, et al. 2021. Cell Rep. 37:109899. PubMed
  139. Yoon YJ, et al. 2022. Nat Commun. 13:3291. PubMed
  140. Oliveira ERA, et al. 2021. Viruses. 13:. PubMed
  141. Kerdidani D, et al. 2022. J Exp Med. 219:. PubMed
  142. Alomari N, et al. 2022. Viruses. 14:. PubMed
  143. Cao S, et al. 2022. Nat Commun. 13:4684. PubMed
  144. Köhler VK, et al. 2020. Int J Mol Sci. 21:00. PubMed

Antigen Details

Biology Area
Apoptosis/Tumor Suppressors/Cell Death, Cell Biology, Neuroscience
Gene ID
NA

Related FAQs

I am concerned about the spillover I am observing from the Zombie dye into its neighboring channels.
Rule of thumb with Zombie dyes is to titrate them down as much as possible to fit your application. This should potentially help with spillover. Secondly, Zombie positive events represent dead cells and are typically gated out from analysis.
How does the performance of your Zombie dye compare with competitors?

Zombie dyes have been tested against other leading competitors' fixable viability kits and given comparable results. We also highly recommend that you titrate down the amount of each dye used in order to best match the negative signals of your unstained sample and MFI- (mean fluorescence intensity) stained samples.

Can I use methanol/ethanol for fixation after using a Zombie dye?

Yes, most fixation reagents are fine to be used with Zombie dyes. However, it should be noted that Zombie dyes can still be sensitive to reactive oxygen species. Light exposure or reagents with hydrogen peroxide can lead to free radical formation, affecting fluorescence.

Can Zombie be used to determine bacteria, yeast viability?
We have not tested in house bacterial or yeast viability using Zombie dyes. It is not clear whether the difference between surface and intracellular signals will be significantly different in case of non mammalian cells.
Can I use Zombie with cells suspension containing serum?
Serum is full of proteins which will sequester the dye and thereby reducing its effective concentration. The basic rule of thumb with zombie is to titrate it based on your specific condition. Titration also helps reduce the background and spillover into other channels.
Can I use Zombie dyes for microscopy?

Zombie dyes tested in-house for microscopy applications will display data on the product technical datasheet. It should be noted that Zombie dyes may not work for dead cell discrimination in every microscopy application. Important considerations that may impact analysis are determining the signal level that constitutes a dead cell and identifying the proper plane to observe the dead cells.

Why can't I fix my cells prior to using Zombie dyes?

The fixation process can contort and alter the membrane of cells, effectively rendering them dead. Since the ability of the Zombie dyes to stain dead cells is correlated with cell permeability, your results may no longer be a valid representation of dead versus live cells.

Can I use Zombie dyes to detect apoptotic cells?

Yes, Zombie dyes can be used with apoptosis markers, such as Annexin V or Apotracker™ (shown below), to discriminate live, apoptotic, and dead cells.

One day-old C57BL/6 mouse thymocytes were stained with Apotracker™ Tetra Alexa Fluor® 647 and Zombie™ YG581. Zombie-dim/Apotracker™-positive cells are apoptotic, while double-positive cells are dead. Live cells are negative for both markers.

How should I store Zombie dyes?

Store the Zombie dye kit at -20°C upon receipt. Do not open vials until needed. Once DMSO is added, use immediately or store at -20°C in a dry place and protected from light, preferably in a desiccator or in a container with desiccant for no more than one month.

Go To Top Version: 7    Revision Date: 12.18.2024

For Research Use Only. Not for diagnostic or therapeutic use.

 

This product is supplied subject to the terms and conditions, including the limited license, located at www.biolegend.com/terms) ("Terms") and may be used only as provided in the Terms. Without limiting the foregoing, BioLegend products may not be used for any Commercial Purpose as defined in the Terms, resold in any form, used in manufacturing, or reverse engineered, sequenced, or otherwise studied or used to learn its design or composition without express written approval of BioLegend. Regardless of the information given in this document, user is solely responsible for determining any license requirements necessary for user’s intended use and assumes all risk and liability arising from use of the product. BioLegend is not responsible for patent infringement or any other risks or liabilities whatsoever resulting from the use of its products.

 

BioLegend, the BioLegend logo, and all other trademarks are property of BioLegend, Inc. or their respective owners, and all rights are reserved.

 

8999 BioLegend Way, San Diego, CA 92121 www.biolegend.com
Toll-Free Phone: 1-877-Bio-Legend (246-5343) Phone: (858) 768-5800 Fax: (877) 455-9587

ProductsHere

Login / Register
Remember me
Forgot your password? Reset password?
Create an Account