Why measure cell health?
Understanding the general health of your cells is a fundamental aspect in most cell culture experiments and some tissue analysis experiments.
In addition to identifying levels or localization of a particular protein of interest and examining activation of pathways, measuring aspects of general cell functions, such as metabolic rates, cell death, cell proliferation and cell movement, can offer critical insights into the question you’re trying to answer.
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Why measure cell health?
There are three main reasons why you may want to assess aspects of general cellular behavior:
1. You are investigating the mechanisms involved
Understanding normal, healthy function is critical to understanding the effects of disease. You may want to measure the mechanisms behind continuing cellular activities, such as metabolism or cell movement.
2. You are researching the effect of a drug or disease
This is the most common need for assessing cell health function. Monitoring the parameters of cell function in a model of disease allows researchers to assess if treatment with a compound offers protection or supports recovery. Assessing parameters of cell function can also be used to assess the progression of diseases, such as cancer. The assays described in this guide are often used by researchers looking to understand the effect of a drug or disease and the mechanisms behind that effect. Cell health assays also quantify the response to treatment with a drug or other stimuli.
3. You need to assess your sample for future experiments
Understanding the health of your cellular population is important as it can greatly impact your results. If you have 1000 cells, but over 50% of them are dead, your experiment is going to have a different outcome that if all 1000 cells were viable. Cell death mechanisms, such as apoptosis, can also present specific markers or proteins, which could alter your results. Measuring cell health is therefore key to understanding your starting point so that you can assess the effect of your experiment on your cells. If cell viability is low, further experiments on the culture would not be recommended.
You may need to assess the health of your cells for one of the reasons above or potentially all three. Whatever your sample type and the question you are asking, this guide will take you on a journey to find the right assay or combination of assays to measure the health of your cells.