Genetix has announced the availability of an independent, peer-reviewed publication comparing cytotoxicity testing using its Cloneselect Imager system against the conventional colorimetric MTT assay.
Entitled 'Accurate non-invasive image-based cytotoxicity assays for cultured cells', the paper concludes that 'the new image-based technique has the potential to replace the cumbersome MTT assay when fast, unbiased and high-throughput cytotoxicity determination is required'.
'The label-free, non-destructive imaging technique used by the Cloneselect Imager system offers the possibility to directly analyse cell proliferation and cell death as a function of time, thereby revealing the effect of potential cytotoxic agents and generating a dose response curve,' said Charles de Rohan, head of the Genetix Business Unit within Leica Microsystems.
Cloneselect Imager provides a non-invasive, image-based alternative to MTT assays.
As no staining is required, the use of colorimetric kits is avoided, saving time and cost.
Using white light imaging and advanced image analysis, the system is used to track cell growth in each well of a microplate, determining cell confluence and estimating cell number.
Screening of a 96-well plate is said to be extremely fast, with data acquisition in less than three minutes.
Data can be displayed visually and exported for further analysis.
The work was performed at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University and published in Biomed Central Biotechnology.
