Cell Assays and Analysis

Using cell-based assays for cell health analysis

The accurate assessment of cell health is critical for monitoring the bioprocesses of in vitro cell cultures across a wide range of research applications. Cell health bioassays that assess the viability and growth of cultured cells can help determine optimal culture conditions, as well as the suitability of the cell culture as a reliable and reproducible model for your research. Cytotoxicity assays can also uncover mechanisms or pharmacological compounds that impair cell health. This helps determine pathological pathways in disease research and to detect potentially harmful compounds during toxicity screening.

In the sections below, we look at different cell-based assays and products that can enhance and expedite your cell culture health assessments. This includes our cytotoxicity and proliferation bioluminescent assays, as well as our white walled cell culture plates that are designed specifically for use with these assays.  

Cell proliferation and cell death assays

Assessing the proliferation (growth) and health of your cell cultures, including during compound screening, involves measuring certain parameters such as viability and toxicity. We offer three different highly sensitive and ready to use assay kits that have been developed to safely, quickly and easily assess cell death and proliferation in your cell cultures using bioluminescent markers. These kits can be used with adherent or suspension cell cultures consisting of either primary cells or cell lines. They are also scalable for high-throughput applications.

ToxiLight Non-destructive Cytotoxicity Bioassay Kit

The ToxiLight^TM Non-destructive Cytotoxicity Bioassay Kit Is a bioluminescent cytotoxicity bioassay designed to measure toxicity in mammalian cells and cell lines in culture. The kit is based on the bioluminescent measurement of adenylate kinase (AK) which is present in all cells. A loss of cell integrity, through damage to the plasma membrane, results in the leakage of a number of factors from cells cultured in vitro into the surrounding medium.

The measurement of the release of AK from the cells allows for the accurate and sensitive determination of cytotoxicity and cytolysis. Unlike many other cytotoxicity assays, the ToxiLight^TM BioAssay Kit does not destroy cells, so it is possible to take repeated samples of the culture medium without disrupting the cell culture to analyze the kinetics of cell death.

ViaLight Plus Cell Proliferation and Cytotoxicity Bioassay Kit

The ViaLight^TM Plus Cell Proliferation and Cytotoxicity BioAssay Kit provides the ability to safely and quickly measure proliferation and cytotoxicity of mammalian primary cells and cell lines in culture. The ViaLight^TM Assay incorporates bioluminescent detection of cellular ATP as a measure of viability and can be used to assess the functional integrity of cultured cells.

ViaLight^TM Plus offers many advantages over conventional methods such as ease-of-use, higher sensitivity, greater reproducibility, and no radioisotopes required. In addition, the kits have been formulated for use with a micro titre plate reading luminometer for full automation of the assay. Microplate beta counters and tube luminometers are also compatible.

Functional HT assays for drug discovery

Cell-based assays are a key component in drug discovery and development. In preclinical research, cell culture assays are frequently used to determine the efficacy and toxicity of candidate drug compounds. For example, a variety of cell-based assays for studying cell migration are helping to develop novel cancer treatments, such as invasion assays and the tube formation assay. Cytotoxicity assays can also help to detect potentially harmful compounds during safety toxicity screening, with our ViaLight™ and ToxiLight™ Assay Kits helping to expedite this process.

Reproducible, reliable and cost-effective cell-based assays are showing promise in accelerating and enhancing drug development. Functional cell-based assays can enable high-throughput compound screening (HTS) to advance drug discovery success. Their distinguishing feature is that they measure the functional behavior of the cell of interest in response to the candidate compound. They have become an essential tool in drug discovery, enabling HTS for more efficient compound library analysis and the earlier identification of promising candidate compounds to expedite drug development.

We offer various cell function assays that target clinically relevant enzymes and bone and adipose cells, which have been specially developed for HTS environments. We describe these different assays and their applications in HTS drug discovery in the following sections. 

Cell-based assays for therapeutic enzyme target

We have developed two assays to detect therapeutic enzyme targets, including phosphodiesterases and cyclases. Both are homogeneous, highly sensitive and non-radioactive luminescence-based assays with significant relevance to drug discovery.

Phosphodiesterase HTS:
PDELightTM HTS cAMP Phosphodiesterase Bioassay Kit

Cell culture assays for the detection of phosphodiesterase (PDE) are essential for reliable HTS. PDE is a group of enzymes that break down two of the most important signaling molecules in cells, cAMP and cGMP, which underlie many cellular processes crucial to our health. As such, PDE is a crucial therapeutic target. PDE-targeted drugs already provide treatment for various diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders4 and heart failure.5 PDEs are also associated with off-target side effects of various drugs6, so profiling PDE is also crucial step in the development of both PDE- and non-PDE-targeted drugs. Our PDELight^TM HTS cAMP Phosphodiesterase Bioassay Kit provides a simple, robust and rapid measurement of phosphodiesterase (PDE) activity. When PDE is present, it breaks down cAMP into AMP, which is converted into ATP. The PDELight^TM Assay Kit uses bioluminescent detection of this ATP in your cell cultures, emitting nearly one photon of light for every ATP molecule produced. If you’d like to learn more or request a quote, visit the PDELight^TM HTS cAMP Phosphodiesterase Assay Kit product page.

Inorganic Pyrophosphate HTS:
PPiLightTM Inorganic Pyrophosphate Bioassay

Identifying the presence of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) is vital for HTS drug discovery. PPi is a small molecule generated from a variety of enzymes, including from cyclases. Cyclases have key regulatory roles in all cells and underlie various pathologies, such as obesity and cardiopulmonary disease, stimulating the development of various cyclase-targeting drugs. Some cyclases, such as adenylyl cyclases, could also be useful drug targets themselves.⁷

Our PPiLight^TM Inorganic Pyrophosphate Bioassay offers a versatile, simple (two-step) and fast method for identifying PPi using a bioluminescent marker. In the presence of PPi, the detection reagent catalyzes the conversion of AMP into ATP. The PPiLight^TM Assay uses luciferase to produce light from the newly formed ATP and luciferin, offering a wide detection range from 0.02µM to 10 µM. As well as its application in the measurement of cyclases, the PPiLight^TM Assay can also measure the activity of various other clinically relevant enzymes, including phosphotransferases, pyrophosphotases, ligases, hydrolases and DNA Polymerases.