Microsphere brochure
Dye-Trak® is a proven non-radioactive method of measuring regional blood flow in
experimental
preparations. Polystyrene microspheres of highly uniform diameter are
precision dyed with one of several
possible colors. Using an injection of Dye-Trak®
spheres into a perfusion line or the left atrium, regional
blood flow can be determined.
The spheres are recovered from tissue and blood samples by digestion and
subsequent
micro-filtration. The dyes are then recovered from the spheres within a known volume of a
solvent
and their concentrations determined by spectrophotometry. A
free Excel macro is available to compute blood
flow from the spectrophotometer
readings and the tissue weights.
The original Dye-Trak is a family of
5-color microspheres colors that have become a standard for non-radioactive
measurement of regional blood flow in research animals. These are
precision 15um polystyrene latex microspheres
with a very accurately controlled size.
Dye-Trak VII+ is a newer set of seven
absorbance colors that are now available in addition the the original
Dye-Trak family. The newer
Dye-Trak VII+ colors have
absorbance peaks that are narrower and sharper, with
higher absorbance (typically 1.5AU/5000 in 100ul
solvent). We recommend that new users and present users
beginning an new round of
experiments use the Dye-Trak VII+ colors. There is a recommended color
progression for the new colors that will yield the minimum overlap between colors for a given number of colors
used. This same color
progression is used in the free Excel matrix
inversion macro which we supply.
Dye-Trak® microspheres are covered by Triton's US Patents 5,230,343 and 5,253,649.
Simplified Quantification Software
A Dye-Trak® blood flow spreadsheet macro for Microsoft Excel has been designed specifically for easy and
accurate
determination of blood flow into tissues samples utilizing the spectrophotometer
readings. This user friendly
macro corrects the spectrophotometer readings
for spectral overlap between colors and converts the
spectrophotometer data and
tissue weight information into blood flow output data.
The macro is available in several forms for various numbers of colors
used. The macro is designed to use a specific
set of
colors for a given number of injections as shown in the table below. (The
colors within a set can be injected in
any order.) The macros is available
in tow forms: with a Process Control color and without Process
Control.
The matrix inversion Excel macro is available free on request from
Triton Technology.
Microsphere Part
Numbers
Dye-Trak® Microsphere
Data Sheets
Dye-Trak® Tissue Processing
Procedure -Filtration (v.0606)
Dye-Trak® Tissue Processing Procedure
-Sedimentation (v.0606)
Dye-Trak®
User's Manual Microsphere Bibliography (printable
Adobe 'pdf' file)
Dye-Trak®
Processing Labs
Dye-Trak® matrix inversion
macro for Excel
Contact Triton by e-mail: triton2@Triton-Technology.com
Worldwide
Distributors
Copyright 1995, Triton Technology, Inc.
Updated March 28, 2006
Address any comments and suggestions to: Webmaster <triton2@cts.com>