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AAT Bioquest

Why is DMSO added in MTT assay?

Posted October 26, 2022


Answer

DMSO is added to MTT assays at the end of the experiment to dissolve the formazan crystals that were created during the experiment. If DMSO is not added and the formazan crystals are not dissolved, this would cause significant changes in the absorbance spectrum due to the sodium bicarbonate that would still be there.

Additional resources

Cell Meter™ Colorimetric MTT Cell Proliferation Kit

Cell Proliferation Assays

A study of some variables in a tetrazolium dye (MTT) based assay for cell growth and chemosensitivity