Cell Health Assays
Cell health assays are an important tool in drug discovery. Cell health assays are used to screen candidate small molecules for cellular toxicity that cannot be inferred by other methodologies.
Common measures of cell health include plasma membrane integrity, nuclear DNA condensation, mitochondrial membrane potential, reactive oxygen species (ROS), glutathione status, calcium efflux and total cell numbers with three or four being combined together to provide an appropriately sensitive readout.
In clinical cell analysis of blood or bone marrow it is often important to understand the quality of a sample on receipt or during analysis. This is assessed using a viability probe for cellular integrity.
The most common image-based assays for cell health combine total cells (e.g. with Hoechst 33342), mitochondrial health (TMRM) and plasma membrane integrity. DRAQ7™ is the ideal viability probe for plasma membrane integrity due to its far-red fluorescence, sensitivity, ready-to-use formulation and cost-effectiveness.
Uniquely, due to its validated ultra-low toxicity DRAQ7™ can be used in real-time, long-term cell health assays.
In more sophisticated assays a cell permeant nuclear counterstain can be combined with other parameters. Using the far-red, cell permeant DNA probe DRAQ5™ one can get cell numbers, nuclear condensation, nuclear and cytoplasmic morphology and DNA content / cell cycle position.
Related BioStatus Products for Imaging-Based Cell Health Assays
DRAQ5™ in Imaging-Based Cell Health Assays
Far-red DNA counterstain, nucl:cyto segmentation in live- / fixed-end point assays.
DRAQ7™ in Imaging-Based Cell Health Assays
Far-red probe for damaged/dead cells in end-point and real-time cell health assays.
DRAQ7™ and stem cells
A unique far-red viability dye used as a measurement of cell viability in patient-derived glioblastoma stem cells.
Cell health assays can be performed by flow cytometry. Meanwhile, in clinical analysis of blood or bone marrow aspirates evaluation of the integrity of the sample is usually essential.
The far‐red viability dye DRAQ7™ allows identification or exclusion of damaged or dead cells and it can be added to multi-colour panels with no compensation!
Related BioStatus Products for Flow Cytometry-Based Cell Health Assays
DRAQ7™ in Flow Cytometry-Based Cell Health Assays
Compensation-free identification of damaged/dead cells in cell health analysis.