Cell-Based Assays
Cellular assays, also known as cell-based assays, are powerful tools used in both biomedical research and drug discovery screening to efficiently quantify cytotoxicity, biological activity, biochemical mechanisms, and off-target interactions. One of the key advantages of cell-based assays is their ability to generate complex and biologically relevant data, which provides deeper insights into the effects of compounds within a living cellular environment. Unlike traditional biochemical assays, which often focus on isolated molecules, cell-based assays offer a more physiologically relevant approach by evaluating multiple compound characteristics simultaneously. This makes them invaluable in assessing drug efficacy, toxicity, and interactions in a manner that closely mimics real biological systems.
Overview
Cell Health Assays
Cell viability and proliferation assays can be effectively used to evaluate cell health. Cell viability and proliferation rate are often assessed using dyes such as trypan blue or Calcein-AM, or with fluorescent readouts. These assays may be used to quantify and to assess the health of mammalian cell lines, primary cells and stem cells.
Fluorescent Lentiviral Particle Cellular Assay Assesses Autophagy
This assay is used to monitor autophagy in cells using fluorescent lentiviral particles. It is a technique used to study cellular processes such as autophagy, which is a mechanism that helps maintain cellular health by degrading and recycling damaged components.
Cell Migration and Invasion Assays
Cell migration is the movement of cells in response to specific external signals, including chemical and mechanical stimuli. During cell invasion, cells can modulate the environment as they migrate through the structure of the extracellular matrix (ECM).
Cell migration and invasion can be evaluated in vitro with widely-used membrane-based migration systems such as the Boyden Chamber assay. These assays are particularly valuable in cancer research to study cell motility and invasiveness in response to chemoattractant gradients.
Angiogenesis Assays
Angiogenesis is the formation of blood vessels from existing vasculature and is controlled by chemical signals. Angiogenesis assays can be used to study both the induction and inhibition of angiogenesis in in vitro cell models. These assays are critical in drug discovery, especially for optimizing treatments for cancer and other angiogenesis-dependent diseases.
Live Cell Imaging in Hypoxia-induced Autophagy Assay
This assay uses live cell imaging technology to study hypoxia-induced autophagy. The CellASIC® system allows for real-time monitoring of cellular processes in hypoxic conditions, providing valuable insights into cellular responses to stress.
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Assays
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chemically reactive, oxygen-containing molecules. ROS assays can be used to screen chemical compounds and detect or better understand the effects of these species on mammalian cells. These assays provide biologically relevant information to assess cell viability, proliferation, or cytotoxicity as opposed to the binding or activity of biological molecules, which is a key difference between cell-based assays and biochemical assays.
Protein Assays
Protein assays are used to quantify protein concentration. Common protein assays include the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which is used to detect and quantify soluble substances for diagnostic purposes and quality control, and the MTT assay, which measures cellular metabolic activity as an indicator of cell viability, proliferation, and cytotoxicity.
Live Cell Analysis Assays
Live cell analysis can be used to quantitatively measure cellular behavior over time and to understand the influence of environmental cues. Advanced live cell analysis systems can provide necessary and unique insights into dynamic living processes. These systems use microfluidics and other environmental-control chambers to maintain precise conditions (such as gas, temperature, and media changes) to enable observation of cellular behavior. Non-cytotoxic, photostable dyes and fluorophores like cell tracking dyes and fluorescent biosensors augment the analysis, providing additional stability for long-term imaging studies.