Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) is a thymidine analog and is specifically incorporated into DNA during DNA synthesis. Anti-bromodeoxyuridine is used to identify cells that have incorporated BrdU. This immunological detection scheme has several advantages over the use of radioactive thymidine incorporation for identifying cells undergoing replication. Labeling and detection can be performed the same day instead of waiting several days, as required for autoradiography of tritium-labeled cells, and the necessity of using multiple specimens for obtaining the optimal exposure time is eliminated. In addition, antibromodeoxyuridine staining with flow cytometric analysis allows multiple parameters to be evaluated simultaneously.
