Name: Overview of methods for measuring cell viability.
Creator: AAT Bioquest
License: https://www.aatbio.com/tou.html

Overview of methods for measuring cell viability.

Viability marker	Assay/reagent to use	Instrument	Principle
Cell Membrane integrity (Dye Exclusion)	Trypan Blue, Trypan Red Plus™ or Trypan Purple™	LM w/ hemocytometer	Trypan Blue, Trypan Red Plus™ and Trypan Purple™ are membrane-impermeant vital stains. Live cells with uncompromised membrane integrity exclude these dyes and remain unstained, whereas dead cells do not.
Propidium iodide 7-AAD Nuclear DCS1™ Dead Cell Stains	FC, FM, or MPR	Uses membrane-impermeant nucleic acid binding dyes to assess membrane integrity. These stains are only able to enter dead cells with compromised membranes, whereby their fluorescence significantly enhances upon binding to double stranded DNA or RNA. They are unable to penetrate live cells with uncompromised membrane integrity.
Cell Meter™ Fixable Viability Dyes	FC or FM	Membrane-impermeant viability dyes that bind to amine- and thiol-containing proteins. On live cells, these dyes react with surface proteins and fluoresce dimly. When these dyes permeate dead cells with compromised membrane integrity there is a significant increase in fluroescence as they bind irreversibly to amine- and thiol-containing proteins and other intracellular components. Because binding is covalent, cells can be fixed and permeabilized without loss of staining pattern.
Enzymatic activity	Calcein AM dyes	FC, FM, or MPR	Membrane-permeant fluorogenic esterase substrates for identifying live cells. These substrates diffuse freely and noninvasively across the plasma membrane of live cells. Once inside, cytosolic esterases in active cells rapidly hydrolyze the non-fluorescent calcein AM substrates into calcein products retained by cells with intact plasma membranes.
Metabolic activity	Tetrazolium dyes (WST and MTT)	Absorbance MPR	Chromogenic substrates that measure the cellular reduction potential in metabolically active cells to evaluate viability. In live, healthy cells, active dehydrogenases and reductases reduce tetrazolium dyes from a colorless complex to a brightly colored formazan product.
Rows per page: 1–5 of 8

References

This online resource may be cited as follows

MLA	"Quest Database™ Overview of methods for measuring cell viability.." AAT Bioquest, Inc., 4 Apr. 2026, https://www.aatbio.com/data-sets/overview-of-methods-for-measuring-cell-viability.
APA	AAT Bioquest, Inc. (2026, April 4). Quest Database™ Overview of methods for measuring cell viability.. AAT Bioquest. https://www.aatbio.com/data-sets/overview-of-methods-for-measuring-cell-viability.
BibTeX	EndNote	RefMan