MTT Assay Kit (Cell Proliferation)

Product details

MTT Assay Kit ab211091 is an easy-to-use, non-radioactive, and high-throughput assay for measuring cell proliferation, cell viability and cytotoxicity.

How the assay works
The MTT assay protocol is based on the conversion of water soluble MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) compound to an insoluble formazan product. NB: MTT is also available as free molecule as ab146345 (Thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide).

Viable cells with active metabolism convert MTT into formazan. Dead cells lose this ability and therefore show no signal. Thus color formation serves as a useful and convenient marker of only the viable cells. The measured absorbance at OD 590 nm is proportional to the number of viable cells.

The MTT assay is a measure of the metabolic activity of the cells analyzed; the more metabolic activity in the sample, the higher the signal. This should be considered when interpreting the results of the assay.

MTT assay protocol summary

• - Replace serum-containing media with serum-free media and MTT reagent in cell cultures
• - Incubate for 3 hr at 37°C
• - Add MTT solvent and incubate for 15 min
• - Analyze with microplate reader

Related cell proliferation assay products
MTS assay kit ab197010, uses a similar principle to this kit, but without the need for the MTT solvent step.

How other researchers are using MTT Assay Kit ab211091
This MTT assay kit has been used in publications with a variety of cell types, including: HUVEC cells¹, U2OS cells and Saos2 cells², human PBMCs³, rat primary hepatic stellate cells⁴, DBTRG glioblastoma cells⁵, SKOV3 human ovarian cancer cells⁶, mouse vascular smooth muscle cells⁷, human iPSC-derived neuronal cultures⁸, primary bladder cancer cells⁹

^{References: 1-De Felice F et al 2019, 2-Zhang X et al 2019, 3-Schotterl S et al 2018, 4-Huang W et al 2015, 5-Tang XJ et al 2016, 6-Zhu Q et al 2017, 7-Ma S et al 2018, 8-Rane A et al 2018, 9-Maj M et al 2018}

The Safety Datasheet for this product has been updated for certain countries. Please check the current version in the Support and downloads section.