Fluorometric detection of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis; possibilities for interfacing bromodeoxyuridine dye techniques with flow fluorometry.

Fluorometric detection of the biosynthetic incorporation of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) into deoxyribonucleic acid has permitted cytologic studies of chromosome structure, replication, and repair. Some of these phenomena, previously detected using BrdU-dye techniques on fixed microscopic preparations, should be particularly amenable to analogous experimentation in fluorescence flow systems. Problems involved in interfacing BrdU-dye methodology with flow fluorometry are discussed. The effects of certain chemical modifications of bisbenzimidazole dyes on their spectroscopic properties and potential use for detecting BrdU incorporation into unfixed cells are described. Data on the use and energy transfer characteristics of a pair of deoxyribonucleic acid-binding dyes (33258 Hoechst and ethidium bromide) capable of simultaneously providing information about BrdU substitution and total deoxyribonucleic acid content are presented.