Coelenterazine and Its Analogs Provide Major Advantages for Luminescent Calcium Detection

Aequorin contains three binding sites for calcium. When calcium ions bind to these sites, they catalyze the oxidation of coelenterazine to coelenteramide, releasing a blue-fluorescent protein product1-3. The major advantages of using coelenterazine and its analogs for calcium detection include the elimination of autofluorescence, photobleaching and biological degradation since they do not require light excitation. Additionally, they offer a wide detection range 4,5.

Coelenterazine and its analogs have been used in transgenic cells expressing apoaequorin for the detection of Ca2+. The Renilla luciferase also oxidizes coelenterazine and its analogs to yield a blue fluorescent protein.

AnaSpec offers the following coelenterazines (native and analogs) which have different Ca2+ sensitivities and emission wavelengths:
· Coelenterazine *UltraPure Grade*
· Coelenterazine cp *UltraPure Grade*
· Coelenterazine f *UltraPure Grade*
· Coelenterazine h *UltraPure Grade*
· Coelenterazine hcp *UltraPure Grade*
· Coelenterazine n *UltraPure Grade*
· Coelenterazine Sampler Kit *UltraPure Grade*
Other Calcium Detection Reagents:
· UV-excitable calcium indicators: Fura-2, Indo-1
· Visible light-excitable calcium indicators: Fluo-3, Rhod-2, Calcein
· Non-luminescent calcium indicator: Pluronic® F-127

For more information visit www.anaspec.com
References:
1. Shimomura, O. and FH. Johnson, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 75, 2611 (1978).
2. Shimomura, O. and FH. Johnson, Nature 256, 236 (1975).
3. Shimomura, O. et al. Biochem. J. 296 (Pt 3), 549 (1993).
4. Burton, M. et al. Free Radic. Res. 37, 145 (2003).
5. Shiomomura, O. and K. Teranishi, Luminescen