Cytotoxicity

Cytotoxicity assays measure the extent to which a compound affects the viability and health of cells.

They are essential in drug discovery, toxicology, and therapeutic development to detect off-target effects, using assays to measure cell viability or membrane integrity (e.g., LDH release, ATP assay) or confirm intended on-target cell killing using more specific assays to confirm mechanisms like apoptosis (e.g., caspase activation, Annexin V).  

We offer a comprehensive range of instrumentation and cellular systems to help design the most appropriate assay, ensuring alignment with experimental goals and the generation of meaningful data.  

Available cytotoxicity assays include:  

Viability assays detecting metabolic changes:  

• ATP production 
• Resazurin reduction 
• Tetrazolium-based assays (MTT/MTS)

Plasma membrane integrity assays:

• LDH release 
• Dye exclusion (e.g. trypan blue exclusion, PI exclusion) 
• Membrane permeability (e.g. Live/Dead assay) 

Organelle integrity assays:

• Mitochondrial membrane potential 
• Mitochondrial ROS production
• Lysosomal pH 
• Lysosomal enzyme activity 
• ER stress 

Cell death signaling:

• Apoptosis (Caspase-3 activity, Annexin V)
• Necroptosis
• Pyroptosis (Caspase- 1 activity, IL-1β/IL-18 release, Gasdermin-D release) 

Imaging viable nuclei or cells:

• Fluorescent labelling and live imaging of viable nuclei and cells
• High Content Imaging for in-depth morphological changes
• Kinetic measurement of cell density with IncuCyte