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 are heterocyclic aromatic organic compounds containing two nitrogen atoms at positions 1 and 3 of a planar, unsaturated ring system, which have been widely used in chemotherapy and have also found applications in dye industries and fluorescence microscopy.

Acridines which are substituted in any position by one or more amino groups or substituted amino groups.

Agents that are capable of inserting themselves between the successive bases in DNA, thus kinking, uncoiling or otherwise deforming it and therefore preventing its proper functioning. They are used in the study of DNA.

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.

The marking of biological material with a dye or other reagent for the purpose of identifying and quantitating components of tissues, cells or their extracts.

Acridine antineoplastic agent used in mammary and ovarian tumors. It inhibits RNA synthesis.

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.

An acridine derivative formerly widely used as an antimalarial but superseded by chloroquine in recent years. It has also been used as an anthelmintic and in the treatment of giardiasis and malignant effusions. It is used in cell biological experiments as an inhibitor of phospholipase A2.

Topical antiseptic used mainly in wound dressings.

Agents that emit light after excitation by light. The wave length of the emitted light is usually longer than that of the incident light. Fluorochromes are substances that cause fluorescence in other substances, i.e., dyes used to mark or label other compounds with fluorescent tags.

A topically applied anti-infective agent.

An aminoacridine derivative that intercalates into DNA and is used as an antineoplastic agent.

Chemical substances that interrupt pregnancy after implantation.

PHENOTHIAZINES with an amino group at the 3-position that are green crystals or powder. They are used as biological stains.

Plasmids which determine the ability of a bacterium to ferment lactose.

Compounds based on acridone, which have three linear rings, with the center ring containing a ring nitrogen and a keto oxygen opposite to each other. Many of them are naturally occurring alkaloids.

Products of the hydrolysis of chlorophylls in which the phytic acid side chain has been removed and the carboxylic acids saponified.

A dye that is a mixture of violet rosanilinis with antibacterial, antifungal, and anthelmintic properties.

Chemical agents that increase the rate of genetic mutation by interfering with the function of nucleic acids. A clastogen is a specific mutagen that causes breaks in chromosomes.

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.

A group of ISOQUINOLINES in which the nitrogen containing ring is protonated. They derive from the non-enzymatic Pictet-Spengler condensation of CATECHOLAMINES with ALDEHYDES.

Phenazines are nitrogen-containing heterocyclic compounds that have been widely studied for their antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic properties, and can be found in various natural sources such as bacteria and fungi, or synthesized chemically.

Microscopy of specimens stained with fluorescent dye (usually fluorescein isothiocyanate) or of naturally fluorescent materials, which emit light when exposed to ultraviolet or blue light. Immunofluorescence microscopy utilizes antibodies that are labeled with fluorescent dye.

An aniline dye used as a disinfectant and an antiseptic agent. It is weakly fluorescing and binds specifically to certain proteins.

Chemicals and substances that impart color including soluble dyes and insoluble pigments. They are used in INKS; PAINTS; and as INDICATORS AND REAGENTS.

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).

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.

Agents that reduce the frequency or rate of spontaneous or induced mutations independently of the mechanism involved.

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)

The normality of a solution with respect to HYDROGEN ions; H+. It is related to acidity measurements in most cases by pH = log 1/2[1/(H+)], where (H+) is the hydrogen ion concentration in gram equivalents per liter of solution. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed)

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.

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.

A neoplasm containing HISTIOCYTES. Important forms include BENIGN FIBROUS HISTIOCYTOMA; and MALIGNANT FIBROUS HISTIOCYTOMA.