Brilliant Blue G is a dye which is commonly used in laboratories to stain or quantify proteins. A variety of methods have been developed for using Brilliant Blue G to stain gels with ease and sensitivity. The Bradford assay is a standard, rapid dye-binding assay that uses Brilliant Blue G to quantify the amount of protein in a solution. This compound also acts as a selective inhibitor of the P2X purinoceptor channel P2X7 (IC50s = 10.1 and 265 nM for rat and human P2X7, respectively). In mice, it inhibits interleukin-1β expression and reduces neurological injury secondary to traumatic brain injury.