I want to detect signals of death in a insect tissue, it is possible do that with propidium iodide, I have seen that people used iodide with culture cells.
Technically, I think propidium iodide can't permeate living cells, so I guess if you add the stain and you see red it means they're dead? I've only used it to stain nuclei after fractionation of cells but it can also be used to stain DNA.
Here are some resources that might be helpful:
PI protocols/info
https://www.thermofisher.com/order/catalog/product/P3566
Using PI to detect apoptosis
Article Nicoletti L, Migliorati G, Pagliacci MC, Grignani F & Riccar...
Possible staining of live cells with high membrane potential by PI (something to consider)
Article Propidium ion enters viable cells with high membrane potenti...
Co-staining of cells with PI and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) to determine cell viability
Article An Improved Method to Determine Cell Viability by Simultaneo...
Not completely clear what you want to do... Is it living tissue?
As I know, PI is slightly toxic, so if you let it longer on your cells, (>1h) you will induce death. So it only works as a short term stain.
Propidium Iodide is often used as a dead cell marker.
It is a trication and thus cannot cross intact membranes.
It is then used for the detection of late stages of apoptosis.
In plant biology we also use PI as a cell wall stain. Maybe it will also stain chitine in insect tissue.
If you plan to use it on live tissue it may work, but there's no warranty. On live cells the membrane will appear fluorescent. In dead cells it is the nuclei that will fluoresce.
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