VECTASHIELD® Mounting Media are unsurpassed in preventing photobleaching. The different formulations of VECTASHIELD® Mounting Media all offer the same outstanding anti-fade and anti-photobleaching properties. They are all compatible with fluorescein, Texas Red®, AMCA, DyLight® dyes, Alexa Fluor® dyes, fluorescent nuclear stains, fluorescent proteins, fluorescent tracers, histochemical stains, and most fluorochromes.
Features of VECTASHIELD® Mounting Media:
- Inhibit photobleaching of most fluorochromes
- Available in non-hardening or hardening formulations
- Available with or without DAPI or propidium iodide
- No warming necessary
- Slides can be viewed after prolonged storage
- Continues to inhibit photobleaching after prolonged storage of mounted slides
- Easy to use
- Optically clear
- Ideal refractive index
VECTASHIELD® HardSet™ Mounting Medium is an aqueous mountant that hardens at room temperature in as little as 20 minutes. This facilitates handling of the slide, eliminates the need to secure the coverslip, and is more convenient for use with oil immersion microscopy. Stained and mounted slides may be stored for several weeks at 4 ºC; for prolonged storage, place slides at -20 ºC.
Both the VECTASHIELD® HardSet™ and the original VECTASHIELD® Mounting Media are available with or without the counterstain DAPI (4’, 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole). DAPI produces a blue fluorescence when bound to DNA with excitation at about 360 nm and emission at 460 nm.
VECTASHIELD® HardSet™ Mounting Media are compatible with a wide array of fluorochromes, enzymatic substrates, and fluorescent proteins. Please consult the compatibility table (located in product information box above) to determine if VECTASHIELD® will be compatible in your system.
Please note: VECTASHIELD® Mounting Medium may not be compatible with all enzymatic substrates or fluorescent proteins and test sections would be advisable when using anything other than commonly used fluorochromes.
The refractive index for VECTASHIELD® HardSet™ Mounting Medium is 1.46.
NOTE: This product has a six month expiration date.
VECTASHIELD® Mounting Medium Antifade Comparison
Other manufacturers measure the antifade properties of their mountants using labeled microspheres or arrayed spots. Vector Labs prefers to measure antifade properties of VECTASHIELD® mountants using frozen tissue sections immunohistochemically stained with fluorescently labeled secondary antibodies.
Antifade capability is measured using a 40x objective with real time imaging over 30 seconds of continuous exposure to the excitation illumination. Individual intensity measurements are recorded from 6 separate labeled regions and the average is calculated. The intensity after 30 second exposure is expressed as a percentage of the intensity at zero time. The values for PG are taken from the manufacturer’s published results.
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