If your cells are spread on a surface and have a lot of actin filaments, maybe
phalloidin will work. It labels actin filaments very nicely and give a very
good indication of the shape and size of a cell.  But depends on the actin
inside the cell, of course.

Deb

Anthony Mc Mahon wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I wonder if anyone can help me.  I am looking for a general marker of cell
> morphology for looking at cultured cells using a BioRad MRC 1024 with Kr/Ar
> laser.  To fit in with the other fluors, it should emit in the FITC region
> or in the far red region.  Ideally it would be a nuclear stain (but we
> don't have a uv source), but not essentially.  I contacted Molecular Probes
> and they recommended some membrane probes (eg FM 4-64, RH 414), but I
> thought I would try for something a little cheaper if possible.  Has anyone
> any recommendations/experience?
>
> Finally, and possibly I should have asked this first, do people consider it
> necessary to have such a marker if attempting to monitor the fate of other
> compounds (ie plasmid DNA) in the cell?  I am thinking in terms of the
> ability to comment on relative intracellular location.
>
> Thanks for any help you can give
>
> Anthony McMahon