Effect of Cell Fixative on GFP Luminous Characteristics

In order to screen proper cell fixative that could maintain fluorescence of the green fluorescent protein(GFP),the present paper used six putative cell fixatives to fix GFP-expressing HepG2 cells at room temperature and 4℃,and the GFP fluorescence was observed under fluorescent microscope and determined by microplate luminometer.The results showed that green fluorescence of cells was quickly disappeared after fixed either at room temperature or at 4℃ by each of 95% ethanol,methanol,5% acetic acid and Carnoy fixative.However,fixing with acetone or 4% paraformaldehyde could keep green fluorescence strong enough,but the fluorescence intensity decreased when fixing time and temperature increased.These results suggested that fixing GFP-expressing cells with acetone or 4% paraformaldehyde in shortened time at low temperature would help to maintain the green fluorescence in cells.