Carbocyanine dyes with long hydrocarbon chains have low fluorescence in aqueous phase, but become highly fluorescent upon binding to lipid bilayers, making this class of dyes ideal for staining cell membranes

Biotium offers a series of novel and classic carbocyanine dyes with fluorescent colors ranging from blue to infrared, including the novel blue carbocyanine dye DiB, and Neuro-DiO, a green fluorescent dye with improved solubility and photostability compared to DiO. Biotium also offers ready-to-use CellBrite™ Cell Membrane Labeling Kits with fluorescent colors ranging from blue to infrared. The labeling kits offer fast and intensely bright labeling of cells without dye precipi­tation, and include a detailed labeling protocol.

Carbocyanine dye mem­brane staining is very stable, with minimal dye transfer between cells. Dilinoleyl carbocynaine dyes have much faster lateral diffusion rates than regular carbocyanine dyes, which facilitates labeling of neurons in tissues.