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 Cell Viability, Proliferation and Cytotoxicity Detection

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Cell Proliferation /Cytotoxicity/Viability Detection

Cell proliferation detection is a basic experimental method to evaluate cell activity, genotoxicity and the effect of antitumor drugs. It generally reflects the growth status and activity of cells by analyzing the changes in the number of dividing cells. Cell activity is an important index to judge whether the cultured cells can grow normally under certain conditions in vitro. The detection of cell activity is an indirect method to detect cell proliferation ability. Cytotoxicity can be measured by changes in a number of indicators, including cell viability, cell proliferation, mitochondrial function, phospholipid deposition/lipid degeneration, DNA damage, and cell cycle.

Elabscience® provides cell proliferation and cytotoxicity/activity kits including EdU, Calcein AM/PI, CCK-8 and LDH. Depending on the type of sample and the purpose of your experiment, you can choose the appropriate kit according to your experimental requirements

Principle of EdU

The most accurate method to measure DNA proliferation is by directly measuring DNA synthesis. The most common method for this uses antibody-based detection of the nucleoside analog bromo-deoxyuridine (BrdU).

EdU (5-ethynyl-2 '-deoxyuridine) ,is an alternative to BrdU,which is a thymidine nucleoside analogue that can be incorporated into replicating DNA molecules instead of thymidine (T) during cell proliferation. In contrast to BrdU assays, the EdU-Click Assays are not antibody based and therefore do not require DNA denaturation for detection of the incorporated nucleoside. EdU utilize click chemistry for detection in a variety of dye fluorescent readouts. Furthermore, the streamlined detection protocol reduces both the total number of steps and significantly decreases the total amount of time. The simple click chemistry detection procedure is complete within 30 minutes and is compatible with multiplexing for content and context-rich results.

Why Choose Elabscience® EdU Assay Kits

Simplicity: No antigen-antibody reaction is required, simple and efficient
Sensitive: without antibody, the detection dye is only 1/500 of BrdU antibody, which is easy to spread and can be accurately detected even for a single proliferating cell
Fast: No need to stay overnight, only 2~3 hours to complete the test
Accurate: without DNA denaturation (acid hydrolysis, pyrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis, etc.), it can effectively avoid sample damage caused by denaturation
Compatible: almost no damage to the sample, easier to be labeled with a variety of antibodies or fluorescent proteins at the same time, can simultaneously detect other characteristics of the cell

Elabscience® EdU Cell Proliferation Detection Kit


Product Name Cat. No Dye
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Flow Cytometry Assay Kit (Green,FITC) E-CK-A370 FITC
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Flow Cytometry Assay Kit (Green, Elab Fluor® 488) E-CK-A371 Elab Fluor® 488
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Flow Cytometry Assay Kit (Red, Elab Fluor® 647) E-CK-A373 Elab Fluor® 647
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Imaging Assay Kit (Green,FITC) E-CK-A375 FITC
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Imaging Assay Kit (Green, Elab Fluor® 488) E-CK-A376 Elab Fluor® 488
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Imaging Assay Kit (Red, Elab Fluor® 594) E-CK-A377 Elab Fluor® 594
E-Click EdU Cell Proliferation Imaging Assay Kit (Red, Elab Fluor® 647) E-CK-A378 Elab Fluor® 647

The Results of EdU

  • E-CK-A371
    Jurkat cells were treated with 10 μM EdU for 4 h (red);without EdU (blue)

  • E-CK-A376
    Hela cells were treated with 10 μM EdU for 2 h proliferate cells (green) and cells were counterstained with DAPI (blue)

Calcein AM/PI

Elabscience® Calcein AM/PI Double Staining Kit can be used to distinguish dead cells and living cells in mammals with esterase activity.

Calcein AM is the addition of acetyl methoxy methyl ester (AM) group to Calcein, which increases hydrophobicity and can easily penetrate the living cell membrane and enter the cell. Calcein AM itself has no fluorescence. After entering the cell, it is hydrolyzed by endogenous esterase in the cell to produce Calcein, a polar molecule with strong negative charge and cannot be retained in the cell through the cell membrane, while Calcein can emit strong green fluorescence ( Ex / Em = 494nm / 517nm ).Due to the lack of esterase, dead cells cannot or rarely produce Calcein, so only living cells are stained with strong green fluorescence, and dead cells cannot be stained or stained very weakly. The selective membrane permeability of dead cells is lost, and Propidium Iodide ( PI ) can enter the cell to specifically bind to doublestranded DNA and produce strong red fluorescence(Ex/Em = 535nm/617nm) to label dead cells. Therefore, the combination of Calcein AM and PI can perform double fluorescence staining on living cells and dead cells at the same time, which can be used for the detection of cell activity and cytotoxicity.

Why Choose Elabscience® Calcein AM/PI Double Staining Kit

Wide range of applications: Suitable for a variety of suspension cells and adherent cultured cells
Diversification of detection:The results can be detected by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy
Easy to operate:Doesn't need to spend time on reagent concentration fumbling, only takes about 15~30 min
Low toxicity:Doesn't affect cell differentiation and proliferation
Cost-effective:The reagent component is complete, and the buffer contains components to prevent Calcein's fluorescent spill

Elabscience® Calcein AM/PI Double Staining Kit and Related Reagents


Product Name Cat. No Size
Calcein AM/PI Double Staining Kit E-CK-A354 100/500/2000 Assays
Calcein AM Solution(100 µM) E-CK-A164 100 T/500 T/500 T*10
PI Solution(750 µM) E-CK-A165 100 T/500 T/500 T*10
Calcein AM Assay Buffer E-CK-A153 100 mL

The Results of Calcein AM/PI

  • Figure1:Jurkat cells were placed at 4 °C for 20 days, then stained with Calcein-AM / PI Double Staining Kit and detected by flow cytometry.

  • Figure2:differert cells were treated with 5μM Camptothecin for 4 h and photographed.

Principle of CCK-8

Cell Counting Kit-8(CCK-8) is a rapid and highly sensitive kit based on WST-8, which is widely used in the detection of cell activity and cytotoxicity.

Wst-8 is a compound similar to MTT. In the presence of electron carrier, WST-8 can be reduced by dehydrogenase in mitochondria to form water-soluble orange-yellow dark (Formazan) products, and the amount of Formazan produced is proportional to the number of viable cells. The more and faster the cell proliferation, the darker the color is. The amount of viable cells can be calculated indirectly by measuring the absorbance at 450 nm.

Because the CCK-8 solution is very stable and has little cytotoxicity, longer incubation periods, such as 24 to 48 hours, can be performed. The detection sensitivity of the CCK-8 kit is higher than that of any other tetrazolium salt, such as MTT, XTT or MTS.

Why Choose Elabscience® Cell Counting Kit 8 (WST-8 / CCK8)?

Elabscience® CCK-8


Product Name Cat. No Size
Enhanced Cell Counting Kit 8 (WST-8/CCK8) E-CK-A362 100/500/10000 T

Experiment Guide



  • Enhanced Cell Counting Kit 8 (WST-8 / CCK8)[362]

    Hela cells: 100 μL/well
    CCK-8 solution: 10 μL/well
    Incubation: 1 h
    Detection: Absorbance value (450 nm)

Principle of LDH Activity Detection

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is a kind of oxidoreductase that only exist in cytoplasm of all kinds of cells, it can be released into supernatant during the process of cell death or damage. The quantitation of cytotoxicity can be measured by measuring the extracellular LDH activity through enzymetic reaction.

LDH catalyzes the reaction of lactic acid with NAD+ to produce pyruvic acid and NADH. Under the action of PMS, electrons are transfered from NADH to WST-8 to produce the yellow formazan dye which has a characteristic absorption peak at 450 nm.

Advantages of Elabscience® LDH Cytotoxicity Colorimetric Assay Kit

Simple:Positively correlated with the cell death rate (With greater cytotoxicity, comes greater optical density)
Higher Sensitivity:Giving higher OD value for the same sample (Comparing with other LDH cytotoxicity assay kits)
Faster:Much shorter reaction time (As short as 10 min)
Widely Application:A more general application with micro-plate reader using 450 nm detection

Elabscience® LDH Cytotoxicity Colorimetric Assay Kit


Product Name Cat. No Size
Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) Cytotoxicity Colorimetric Assay Kit E-BC-K771-M 96 T

Information of Product

Lactate Dehtdrogenase (LDH) Cytotoxicity Colorimetric Assay Kit

Sample Type: Cell


  • Higher Sensitivity for the same sample (Comparing with other LDH cytotoxicity assay kits)

  • Much shorter reaction time (As short as 10 min)

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