Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit for Animal Live & Dead Cells

A convenient assay for staining live (green) and dead (red) cells within the same cell population by flow cytometry or fluorescence microscopy.

Size

Catalog #

price

Qty

150 assays

300 assays

Clear selection

Add to Cart

This product is available by special order only.

Please fill in the inquiry form and we will contact you shortly.

Don't see what you're looking for? Contact us for more conjugation options.

Request Quote or Bulk Order

Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit for Animal Live & Dead Cells

Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit for Animal Live & Dead Cells - Image 2

View Spectra Viewer

Antibody Finder

Product Description

The Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit for Animal Live & Dead Cells contains two dyes (calcein AM and EthD-III) for distinguishing live and dead cells.

Features

Fluorescence detection of live & dead cells
Calcein AM stains live cells with active esterase activity green
EthD-III stains dead cells with compromised membranes red
For fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, or fluorescence microplate reader

Kit Components

Calcein AM, 4 mM in DMSO
EthD-III, 2 mM in DMSO/H₂O

Spectral Properties (Ex/Em)

Calcein AM (hydrolyzed, pH 8): 494/517 nm
EthD-III (with DNA): 279, 532/625 nm

The assay employs two probes that detect intracellular esterase activity in live cells and compromised plasma membrane integrity in dead cells. The esterase substrate calcein AM stains live cells green, while the membrane-impermeable DNA dye ethidium homodimer III (EthD-III) stains dead cells red. The kit is suitable for detection using fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence microplate reader, or flow cytometry. This fluorescence-based method of assessing cell viability can be used in place of trypan blue exclusion, ⁵¹Cr release, and similar methods for determining cell viability and cytotoxicity.

EthD-III is a proprietary DNA stain developed by Biotium to be a superior alternative to the spectrally similar dye ethidium homodimer I (EthD-I). EthD-III has higher DNA binding affinity and brighter fluorescence (45% brighter than EthD-I).

Find the Right Kit for Your Application

This assay must be used on unfixed cells. The dyes cannot be used for live/dead discrimination in fixed cells or tissues, and cannot withstand fixation after staining. See our full line of Cell Viability and Apoptosis Assays for fixed cell assays and fixable dead cell stains.

Calcein AM-based assays can be used in adherent or suspension cultures of eukaryotic cells, spheroid or 3D-cell culture models, and certain live tissue preparations; download the Reference List for examples. Calcein-AM cannot be used in yeast or bacteria. See our Microbiology Products for bacterial and yeast viability assays.

Technology

Cell Viability & Apoptosis

Product Attributes

Size

150 assays, 300 assays

Apoptosis/viability marker

Live/dead assay

For live or fixed cells

For live/intact cells

Detection method/readout

Fluorescence microscopy, Flow cytometry

Assay type/options

Endpoint assay, Short term staining (≤24h)

Colors

Green, Red

Storage Conditions

Store at -10 to -35 °C, Protect from light

Documents, Protocols, SDS and COA

Documents

Cell Viability and Cell Death Brochure

Protocols

PI-30002

SDS

SDS-30002

Citations

Download a list of Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay Kit for Animal Live & Dead Cells References.

FAQs

Apoptosis, Necrosis, and Cell Viability Kits

Can I use the MTT or XTT cell viability kit if my cells have more than 10% FBS?

It has been reported in publications that concentrations of serum above 10% in the assay may affect the results.

See the following publications for more information

https://doi.org/10.2144/04373ST05

https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10616-007-9057-4

What is the best way to measure T-cell proliferation response in vitro?

Our ViaFluor® SE Cell Proliferation assay is a dye dilution assay for cell division, like CFSE and CellTrace™ Violet from Thermo. This type of assay is commonly used to measure lymphocyte proliferative responses in culture and in vivo (if the labeled cells are injected back into mice). It requires flow cytometry to analyze and allows you to count how many cell divisions have occurred in the labeled cells.

For more information and a typical procedure for using fluorescent ViaFluor® SE Dyes with PMBCs, which can easily be adapted for use with other cell types, please see our Tech Tip: Measuring Cell Division in PMBCs by Flow Cytometry

If flow cytometry is not an option, we offer absorbance-based and fluorescence-based microplate assays for quantitating cell numbers. These measure mitochondrial activity (resazurin/MTT/XTT) or intracellular esterase activity (calcein AM) as a readout of viable cell numbers. Please visit the Cell Viability and Apoptosis technology page for more information.

The ATP-Glo™ assay is a luminescence assay for cellular ATP levels, which are proportional to the number of live cells. This assay requires a luminometer.

CellTrace is a trademark of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Do you have a fluorescent cell viability assay that I can measure in 96 well format?

Our Resazurin Cell Viability Assay (Cat. No. 30025) has red fluorescence (Ex/Em 530-560/590 nm), and is specifically designed for microplate reader. It is an economical, easy-to-use, and homogeneous (no-wash) assay for quantifying live cells. It is similar to alamarBlue®, PrestoBlue®, and CellTiter-Blue®.

The Calcein AM Cell Viability Assay (Cat. No. 30026) has green fluorescence (Ex/Em 485/530 nm), and also works well for microplate reader. This assay requires culture medium to be removed from cells before adding the viability dye in buffer. We also offer the Viability/Cytotoxicity Assay for Animal Live & Dead Cells, which combines calcein-AM with the fluorescent dead cell stain EthD-III, and is compatible with microplate reader.

alamarBlue is a registered trademark of Trek Biosystems. CellTiter-Blue is a registered trademark of Promega Corporation. PrestoBlue is a registered trademark of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

View more FAQs