Acridine Orange
A cationic cytochemical stain specific for cell nuclei, especially DNA. It is used as a supravital stain and in fluorescence cytochemistry. It may cause mutations in microorganisms.
Acridines
Aminoacridines
Intercalating Agents
Aminacrine
A highly fluorescent anti-infective dye used clinically as a topical antiseptic and experimentally as a mutagen, due to its interaction with DNA. It is also used as an intracellular pH indicator.
Staining and Labeling
Nitracrine
Ethidium
A trypanocidal agent and possible antiviral agent that is widely used in experimental cell biology and biochemistry. Ethidium has several experimentally useful properties including binding to nucleic acids, noncompetitive inhibition of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, and fluorescence among others. It is most commonly used as the bromide.
Quinacrine
Fluorescent Dyes
Amsacrine
An aminoacridine derivative that intercalates into DNA and is used as an antineoplastic agent.
Azure Stains
Acridones
Chlorophyllides
Gentian Violet
Mutagens
Mustard Compounds
Strong alkylating and immunosuppressive agents whose biological activity is based on the presence of bis(2-chloroethyl)- groups. Although otherwise structurally diverse, the compounds have in common the capacity to contribute alkyl groups to DNA. They are generally highly toxic but include among their number many widely used and effective antineoplastic agents.
Tetrahydroisoquinolines
Phenazines
Microscopy, Fluorescence
Benzophenoneidum
Coloring Agents
DNA
A deoxyribonucleotide polymer that is the primary genetic material of all cells. Eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms normally contain DNA in a double-stranded state, yet several important biological processes transiently involve single-stranded regions. DNA, which consists of a polysugar-phosphate backbone possessing projections of purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (thymine and cytosine), forms a double helix that is held together by hydrogen bonds between these purines and pyrimidines (adenine to thymine and guanine to cytosine).
Cardiolipins
Acidic phospholipids composed of two molecules of phosphatidic acid covalently linked to a molecule of glycerol. They occur primarily in mitochondrial inner membranes and in bacterial plasma membranes. They are the main antigenic components of the Wassermann-type antigen that is used in nontreponemal SYPHILIS SERODIAGNOSIS.
Antimutagenic Agents
Lysosomes
A class of morphologically heterogeneous cytoplasmic particles in animal and plant tissues characterized by their content of hydrolytic enzymes and the structure-linked latency of these enzymes. The intracellular functions of lysosomes depend on their lytic potential. The single unit membrane of the lysosome acts as a barrier between the enzymes enclosed in the lysosome and the external substrate. The activity of the enzymes contained in lysosomes is limited or nil unless the vesicle in which they are enclosed is ruptured. Such rupture is supposed to be under metabolic (hormonal) control. (From Rieger et al., Glossary of Genetics: Classical and Molecular, 5th ed)
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
Nitrogen Mustard Compounds
A group of alkylating agents derived from mustard gas, with the sulfur replaced by nitrogen. They were formerly used as toxicants and vesicants, but now function as antineoplastic agents. These compounds are also powerful mutagens, teratogens, immunosuppressants, and carcinogens.
Nucleic Acid Denaturation
Disruption of the secondary structure of nucleic acids by heat, extreme pH or chemical treatment. Double strand DNA is "melted" by dissociation of the non-covalent hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions. Denatured DNA appears to be a single-stranded flexible structure. The effects of denaturation on RNA are similar though less pronounced and largely reversible.
Histiocytoma
A neoplasm containing HISTIOCYTES. Important forms include BENIGN FIBROUS HISTIOCYTOMA; and MALIGNANT FIBROUS HISTIOCYTOMA.