Abstract
Resazurin, introduced as a cell viability indicator under the trade name alamarBlue®, is generally regarded as nontoxic when used according to manufacturer’s suggested shorter-term incubation time specifications. However, problems arise when exposure times are extended to longer-term cultures on the order of days. To assess the effect of resazurin over longer incubation times, MCF7 (HTB-22), MCF10A (CRL-10317), 3T3-L1 (CL-173), and D1 (CRL-12424) cultures were tested with varying amounts of resazurin over 4- and 8-day periods. MCF7, 3T3-L1, and D1 cells cultured for 8 days with 20 % alamarBlue® had significantly less cell survivability. Specifically, levels of metabolic activity, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) concentration, and glucose consumption of the cell lines cultured for 8 days in medium with 20 % alamarBlue® were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than metabolic activity, DNA concentration, and glucose consumption of MCF7 cells cultured for 8 days in medium with no alamarBlue®. MCF7, 3T3-L1, and D1 cells used less glucose at concentrations as low as 5 %. Data also suggests the toxic effects are more pronounced in the cancerous cell line as compared to the noncancerous cells.
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Acknowledgments
The trademark alamarBlue® is a registered trademark of TREK Diagnostic Systems with whom the authors share no affiliation. The study was funded in part by the Avon Foundation for Women Award 02-2011-085.
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Pace, R.T., Burg, K.J.L. Toxic effects of resazurin on cell cultures. Cytotechnology 67, 13–17 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-013-9664-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-013-9664-1