MTT Cytotoxicity Assay
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
An MTT cytotoxicity assay is a laboratory test used to measure cell viability in culture. The assay is based on the ability of living cells to convert a soluble substrate, called MTT, into a water-insoluble formazan product. The amount of formazan produced is proportional to the number of living cells in the culture.
To perform the assay, cells are first seeded into a culture plate or flask and allowed to grow for a certain period of time. Then, MTT is added to the cells and incubated for a short period of time. After the incubation period, the cells are washed and lysed, and the formazan produced is solubilized and measured spectrophotometrically.
The MTT cytotoxicity assay is widely used in the field of drug discovery to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of potential drugs on different types of cells. It is also used to study the mechanisms of cell death and to determine the optimal conditions for cell growth and survival.
In summary, the MTT cytotoxicity assay is a reliable and widely-used method for measuring cell viability in culture, and has many applications in the field of drug discovery and cell biology.
Reagent used in our protocol includes:
- DMEM (Simply, GeneDireX)
- Bovine serum (ATCC)
- Antibiotic-antimycotic (GIBCO)
- Ultrapure water
- Phosphate buffered saline, Calcium and Magnesium free (PBS): PBS (Sigma)
- Trypsin-EDTA: 0.25% Trypsin-EDTA (Corning)
- Trypan blue (Sigma)
The MTT cytotoxicity assay is widely used in the field of drug discovery to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of potential drugs on different types of cells. It is also used to study the mechanisms of cell death and to determine the optimal conditions for cell growth and survival.