Choosing an effective mounting medium is especially important for immunofluorescence imaging. Fluorophores are susceptible to photobleaching and fading from the imaging excitation light, handling, and during storage.
Vector Laboratories is a market leader for mounting media that provide excellent signal retention for image acquisition and specimen archiving.
Complete your IF workflow with the range of VECTASHIELD Antifade Mounting Media:
- Inhibit fading and photobleaching of most fluorophores, dyes, fluorescent proteins, and stains
- Exhibit ideal refractive indices
- Are ready-to-use (no warming necessary) and easy to use
- Inhibit photobleaching even after prolonged storage of mounted slides
- Are available with or without nuclear or cytoskeletal counterstain, in hardening or non-hardening formulations
- Glycerol-based, aqueous mountant
- Remains viscous, rather than solidifying
- After mounting, cover-slipped slides will not dry out, enabling you to review them for weeks without the need for sealing
- Recomended for whole mounts and thicker sections
- For prolonged storage, seal coverslips with nail polish applied on the coverslip perimeter
- Permits fluorophore blinking for super-resolution microscopy
- No inherent toning or background
- Remains viscous, rather than solidifying
- Superior signal retention across the spectrum from blue to far red
- Recomended for whole mounts and thicker sections
- Mounted sections can be viewed in 1 hour
- With or without DAPI counterstain
- Superior non-setting formulation
- Aqueous mountant
- Hardens at room temperature in as little as 20 minutes
- Provides easy slide handling
- Eliminates the need to secure the coverslip with nail polish
- Convenient for use with oil immersion microscopy
- Recomended for Lectin staining
- Available with or without DAPI or TRITC-phalloidin counterstain
- Superior antifade properties across the spectrum
- Compatibility with commonly used fluorophores
- View sections one hour after mounting
- No tone or autofluorescent background
- Recomended for Lectin staining
- Room temperature storage of slides for several weeks
- Minimal bubble formation, even with extended archiving
- Available with or without DAPI counterstain
This diagram features established applications for our antifade mounting media formats. VECTASHIELD Antifade Mounting Media are widely utilized to protect the inherent fluorescent properties of traditional and contemporary fluorophores in many applications using epifluorescence and confocal microscopy. The versatility of the original VECTASHIELD format solves the demands of labs and core facilities using multiple platforms and fluorescent markers. Furthermore, VECTASHIELD reagents are also recognized as leading media in emerging techniques such as super resolution microscopy (SRM).
VECTASHIELD Mounting Media are the most widely referenced antifade mounting media for immunofluorescence applications. Currently, over 60,000 published references cite using VECTASHIELD Mounting Media and describe compatibility with over 130 fluorophores and fluorescent markers. This data underscores the prominence of VECTASHIELD reagents in this application. The graphic above highlights the most commonly references fluorophores used in combination with VECTASHIELD Antifade Mounting Media.
Mounting Media
Mounting media are solutions or resins that protect samples and signals for viewing and for storage.
Vector Laboratories manufactures the industry’s best selection of mounting media for light and epi-fluorescent microscopy applications. Our mounting media are backed by independent research and are optimized for either immunohistochemistry (IHC) or immunofluorescence (IF) experiments.