Cytotoxicity assay kits and cell viability assay kits
Cytotoxicity assays and cell viability assays measure different sides of the same coin: the number of dead and living cells within a cell culture.
Broadly, cytotoxicity assays can be classified as those assays that measure some marker that only appears in connection with cell death, such as the leakage of enzymes from the cell. Cell viability assays measure some feature only associated with living cells, such as the amount of metabolic enzyme activity within the cell.
We developed a range of ready-to-use cytotoxicity assay kits and cell viability assay kits that can be used in basic research to assess the generic impact of experimental treatments on the health of the cell culture, and in drug development as screening assays.
Cell viability assay kits
Cell viability assay kits for colorimetric plate readers
Many cell viability assays rely on the action of cellular dehydrogenases on tetrazolium chemicals to form a colored formazan product that is measured by absorbance using a colorimetric microplate reader.
We supply ready-to-use assay kits for all the popular versions of these assays.
Our most popular tetrazolium-based cell viability assay kits are:
Cell viability assay kits suitable for fluorescent detection
Resazurin-based cell viability assays use a similar principle to tetrazolium assays. Resazurin is converted to the fluorescent resorufin by enzymes present within living cells.
Resazurin assay kit ab129732 can be used with a fluorometric or colorimetric plate reader.
Again, Calcein AM cell viability assays work on a similar principle. A non-fluorescent, hydrophobic compound easily penetrates intact and live cells, where it is hydrolyzed by intracellular esterases to produce a hydrophilic, strongly fluorescent compound that is retained in the cell cytoplasm. Our Calcein AM assay kit ab228556 includes a full protocol, buffer, and dye to easily run a cell viability assay.
ATP luminescence cell viability assay kit
The Luminescent ATP Assay Kit (ab113849) is a popular cell viability assay that measures the level of ATP within cultured cells. Cells are lysed, and then the luciferase-luciferin reaction is used to quantify the amount of ATP.
It provides results in under 30 minutes and features a simple protocol with just two reagent addition/incubation steps.
Cytotoxicity assay kits
Cytotoxicity assays are commonly used to screen for any cytotoxic effects of a compound in drug screening. To determine the toxicity of a chemical agent, the assays detect markers of severe cellular damage or cell death, most commonly, damage to the cell membrane.
We offer a range of assay kits designed for cytotoxicity assays.
Our most popular cytotoxicity assay kits are our LDH assay kits [search for LDH assay], which detect the leakage of LDH from cells with damaged plasma membranes. These are available as both a colorimetric LDH assay kit (ab65393) and a fluorometric LDH assay kit (ab197004).