Citifluor AF3, glycerol mountant solution

Citifluor AF3 is a mountant solution composed of phosphate buffered saline and an antifadent. It was specifically designed to stop the photo bleaching of the fluorescein moiety of FITC labelled biological specimens. Its application is not however limited to FITC labelled materials and has been used with advantage with many other fluorochromes including rhodamines and DAPI. It is useful for examining tissue live cells although it should be noted that cell lysis will take place over a period of time. The solution has a pH of ~10. The solution should be pipetted onto the specimen and then a cover slip applied. Specimens mounted in Citifluor AF3 solutions have been kept in this way for many months without suffering damage.

The solutions have a water-white in appearance. They may be stored at room temperature and ideally between 5° and 15° and out of strong sunlight. Samples stored under these conditions for 6 months have shown no apparent deterioration. If the Citifluor AF3 solution is being used in an assay, a control experiment should always be carried out.