Nitrotetrazolium Blue chloride

Analysis Note

solubility:250 mg in 5 mL methanol: yellow to very dark yellow and light brown-yellow to very dark brown-yellow

Biochem/physiol Actions

Nitrotetrazolium blue chloride (NBT) is used in staining, visualizing and evaluating the damage in brain sections or heart tissues. The principle of the technique is that the redox enzymes like nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide NAD(H) and cofactors present in the cell convert colorless tetrazolium salt to blue formazan. The dead cells remain unstained. It is used in the dual-staining along with methyl green for the hyperspectral microscopic imaging analysis of colon tissues for the diagnosis of colon diseases. NBT is also used for diagnosing microbial infections and phagocytic defects. In conventional chromogenic methods, NBT/ 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate (BCIP) is used as a substrate for alkaline phosphatase enzyme reaction, in which NBT is reduced to insoluble purple diformazan.