The fluorescent control liposomes contain the lipophilic Near IR dye DiR incorporated in the bilayers. It is used for tracking the cellular uptake of the liposomes in vitro and in vivo by common methods like confocal, FACS, NIR imaging, etc.  The near IR fluorescent, lipophilic carbocyanine DiOC18(7) (“DiR”) is weakly fluorescent in water but highly fluorescent and quite photostable when incorporated into membranes. The sulfonate groups incorporated into this DiI analog improves water solubility. It has an extremely high extinction coefficient and short excited-state lifetimes (~1 nanosecond) in lipid environments.

Specifications

Lipid composition: DOPC/CHOL/mPEG2000-DSPE (50:45:5 mol/mol)

Lipid concentration: 50 mM (50-55 mM)

Mean particle size: 100 nm (85-110 nm)

Hydration buffer: 10% sucrose, 20mM HEPES, pH 7.3 ± 0.2

DiR: 0.5 mM (0.51mg/mL)

Stability: 6 months for unopened vials

Storage: 2-8 ºC

DiR;  DiIC18(7) (1,1′-Dioctadecyl-3,3,3′,3′-Tetramethylindotricarbocyanine Iodide)

CHOL: cholesterol

mPEG2000-DSPE: 18:0 PEG2000 PE:1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy(polyethylene glycol)-2000] (ammonium salt)