Product Guide – Incucyte® Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye for Nuclear Labeling

The Incucyte® Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye for nuclear labeling is a cell permeable DNA stain that specifically stains nuclei in cells and is ideally suited to the mix-and-read, real-time quantification using the Incucyte® Live-Cell Analysis System. Addition of the Incucyte® Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye to normal healthy cells is non-perturbing to cell growth and morphology and provides homogeneous staining of nuclei, enabling the real-time, fluorescent quantification of cell proliferation. When added to cell culture medium, the inert stain crosses the cell membrane and has excellent specificity for DNA without the need for a wash step. With the Incucyte® integrated analysis software, fluorescent objects can be quantified and background fluorescence minimized. This reagent can be multiplexed with Incucyte® Annexin V, Caspase-3/7 or Cytotox Dyes for simultaneous readouts of apoptosis or cytotoxicity alongside cell proliferation. The Incucyte® Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye has been validated for use with Incucyte® Live-Cell Analysis Systems configured with a Green/Orange/NIR or an Orange/NIR Optical Module.
Download the white paper – Fluorescent Cell Labeling Strategies for Incucyte® Live-Cell Analysis
Key advantages
- Simple to use, mix-and-read reagent
- Efficient, non-perturbing cell labeling at optimized dye concentrations
- Combine with cell health reagents for multiplexed measurements
Figure 1 Rapid, high efficiency labeling of adherent and non-adherent cell types
Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye is non-perturbing and enables high-efficiency labeling of cell nuclei

Figure 2 Representative images and data of MDA-MB-231 labeled with Incucyte® Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye. Note the homogeneous nuclear restricted labeling by the Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye (pseudo-colored blue) and the healthy cell morphology. Data shows equivalent cell growth profiles to non-labeled cells.
Multiplex with cell health reagents for additional insight

Figure 3 Representative images of control (top-left) or camptothecin-treated (top-right) Jurkat cells labeled with Incucyte® Nuclight Rapid NIR Dye and Incucyte® Annexin V Orange Dye after 48 hour culture. Cell death (apoptosis) is monitored in real time by measuring the loss of NIR object count (bottom-left) and increase of orange object area (Annexin V signal, bottom-right) over time.