Microplate Assays for Cell Viability

Microplate assays allow researchers to assess the health and viability of cells quickly and accurately in a high-throughput manner. These assays utilize microplate wells, which can accommodate multiple samples simultaneously, making them exceptional for screening large numbers of compounds or conditions. Microplate assays also provide a valuable means of obtaining information on entire cell populations rather than tracking the behavior of individual cells. This high-throughput screening and analysis can help provide insight into the viability of intact cells, disrupted cells, or cell lysates.

Various cellular functions are utilized in microplate assays to help determine cell viability. Metabolic activity is commonly used as a viability indicator using the reducing power of living cells with alamarBlue and PrestoBlue assays, or by assessing cellular redox potential with MTT and XTT assays. In certain applications, it may be crucial to evaluate viability independently of the metabolic state. For instance, the release of enzymatic proteins can serve as an indicator of viability, which is measured through CyQUANT Cytotoxicity assays. Additionally, the loss of membrane integrity can be assessed using LIVE/DEAD kits.

Thermo Fisher Scientific offers microplate assays with different approaches to assess cell viability that suites each researchers’ specific experimental needs.