Talk:Ruthenium red

MiPNet discussion forum: use of Ruthenium red (2013-11-28)

Patrice Petit

We work with cells which we treat with pollutants that induce a shift in metabolic activity (i.e. modifying the glycolysis pathway and inhibiting the mitochondrial function. We tried to use Ruthenium red to target the mitochondrial calcium uniporter; however, we got the impression that the RR works, we have some evidence which makes us suspecting non-specific targeting of the RR. The question are:

1 - does RR easily penetrate the plasma membrane (we can eventually add 0,001 % digitonine to our cells)?

2 - when measuring calcium with Fluo4 -AM we do not understand why RR totally abolish the fluorescence of the RR, since it is only the MUC which should be affected. Does RR non-specifically block other calcium pumps, channels and transport systems?