Description
The assay is based on the cleavage of the tetrazolium salt to formazan by cellular mitochondrial dehydrogenase. The amount of the dye generated by activity of dehydrogenase is directly proportional to the number of living cells. The formazan dye produced by viable cells can be quantified by multi-well spectrophotometer (microtiter plate reader) by measuring the absorbance of the dye solution at 440 nm. The assay can be used for measurement of cell proliferation in response to growth factors, cytokines, mitogens, and nutrients, etc. It can also be used for the analysis of cytotoxic compounds like anticancer drugs and many other toxic agents and pharmaceutical compounds. This method requires no washing, no harvesting, and no solubilization steps. The assay correlates well with the [3H]-thymidine incorporation assay.
