The Image-iT Cell Painting Kit conveniently provides six different fluorescent labels to assess cellular morphology by high content screening for drug discovery. Cell painting is useful for identifying cellular phenotypic changes, mechanisms of action, toxicity testing, and cellular profiling during high-content drug screening. This image-based assay known as cell painting uses fluorescent multiplexing to paint the specific organelle with its own label within the cell.

Using different fluorophores, the Image-iT Cell Painting Kit allows for cellular image-based profiling to characterize a cell’s response while visualizing and analyzing the spatial organization of structures to assess any morphological changes after exposure to drug candidates and other perturbations. In addition, cell painting allows researchers to investigate the organization of proteins, cell viability, and proliferation or visualize DNA damage. Cytological profiling studies can be performed using cell painting to evaluate the effects of compounds on cellular morphology to help identify drug candidates in high content screening assays.

When running high-content screening and imaging assays, high image quality is essential. Several factors can impair image quality, such as using thick, uneven plates, which can lead to focusing differences between wells and image quality issues across a plate. We recommend using our Optical-Quality Imaging Plates (Cat. No. A58941) for superior image quality and resolution when used with fluorescence or luminescence readers. When combined with the CellInsight High Content Screening (HCS) Platform, these cell painting kit reagents provide a phenotypical readout to depict cell health. The kit is based on the publication by Bray et al. (2016) that identified the morphological profiling of cells using multiplexed fluorescent dyes. Image-iT Cell Painting kits can be purchased with enough reagents for either two or ten 384-well plates.

This kit includes the following reagents:
• Hoechst 34580, trihydrochloride, trihydrate
• Concanavalin A, Alexa Fluor 488 conjugate
• Wheat Germ Agglutinin, Alexa Fluor 555 conjugate
• Alexa Fluor 568 Phalloidin
• SYTO 14 Green Fluorescent Nucleic Acid Stain
• MitoTracker Deep Red FM

For additional information see our Cell Painting application note