The LIVE/DEAD® Viability/Cytotoxicity Kit is a quick and easy two-color assay to determine viability of cells in a population based on plasma membrane integrity and esterase activity. The kit can be used in flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and with fluorescence microplate readers. The LIVE/DEAD® Viability/Cytotoxicity Kit quickly discriminates live from dead cells by simultaneously staining with green-fluorescent calcein-AM to indicate intracellular esterase activity and red-fluorescent ethidium homodimer-1 to indicate loss of plasma membrane integrity. It is adaptable to most eukaryotic cells where cytotoxic conditions produce these cellular effects.
The LIVE/DEAD® Viability/Cytotoxicity Kit is more sensitive than Trypan blue exclusion, a commonly used method for live/dead cell discrimination. The cost-effective LIVE/DEAD® Viability/Cytotoxicity Kit is highly sensitive due to the bright fluorescence of both dyes upon interacting with either live (for calcein-AM) or dead (for ethidium homodimer-1) cells. Background levels are low due to the fact that both dyes are virtually non-fluorescent prior to interacting with cells.