The BrdU reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

BrdU

Also known as 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine, this chemical is a base analog of thymidine, with the thymine substituted by bromouracil. Because BrdU can replace thymidine, excessive exposure to the chemical can cause mutations.

BrdU is a common chemical used in the detection of proliferating cells in living tissues. It works by substituting for thymidine during DNA replication (being a base analog of thymidine) and incorporating itself into the newly synthesized DNA. Antibodies specific for BrdU (linked to a fluorescent molecule) can then be used to detect the incorporated chemical, thus indicating cells that were actively replicating its DNA (proliferating).

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