PrestoBlue HS Cell Viability Assay Reagent is a ready-to-use resazurin-based solution that utilizes the reducing power of living cells to quantitatively detect viability. , can be used as an indicator of cellular health. Once inside living cells, resazurin is reduced to resorufin, a red, highly fluorescent compound. High background fluorescence caused by various contaminants can degrade the performance of resazurin-based reagents. To improve performance, the company developed an innovative purification process that removes these contaminants. This highly purified, non-toxic resazurin is used in standard PrestoBlue formulations to create the PrestoBlue HS cell viability assay. Changes in cell viability can be easily detected using absorbance- or fluorescence-based microplate readers. PrestoBlue HS Cell Viability Assay Reagent has been optimized for rapid and reliable detection of mammalian cell viability.

Features of the PrestoBlue HS Cell Viability Assay Reagent include:
• Removal of contaminants in resazurin - background fluorescence reduced by >50%
• Signal to background ratio increased by >100% - obtained Large assay signal window
• Highly sensitive reagents with linear response—lower detection limit as low as 10 cells/well
• Convenient load-and-read format—no mixing, no washing, no cell lysis, and are compatible with fluorescence or absorbance-based instruments
• Optimized to reliably detect mammalian cell viability in just 10 minutes

Measuring changes in cell viability is an ideal way to assess cell health, determine genotoxicity, and Basic methods for evaluating anticancer drugs. Cell health can be monitored by detecting changes in several key indicators, including cell membrane integrity, DNA synthesis, DNA content, enzyme activity, ATP content, and changes in the cell's reducing environment.

Monitoring changes in a cell's reducing environment or metabolic activity using resazurin-based reagents is a well-established and reliable indicator of cell viability or death. Once inside a living cell, the reducing environment of the cell reduces resazurin to resorufin, a red, highly fluorescent compound. As living cells continuously convert resazurin to resorufin, the overall fluorescence intensity of the culture medium surrounding the cells increases. In addition, the conversion of resazurin to resorufin produces a significant color change, so cell viability can also be measured using an absorbance-based microplate reader.

As a result of the synthesis and production processes, all resazurin-based reagents contain detectable amounts of resorufin contamination. The amount of contamination varies widely depending on material source and production conditions, resulting in differences in detectable background fluorescence. The company has developed an innovative process that can remove resorufin contamination, thereby obtaining high-purity resazurin used in PrestoBlue HS cell viability detection reagent. This highly purified resazurin reduces background fluorescence by >50% and increases signal-to-background ratio by >100%. After 10 minutes of incubation with PrestoBlue HS cell viability detection reagent, mammalian cell viability can be detected. Because cell lysis is not required, the diluted PrestoBlue HS solution can be removed and replaced with complete growth medium for further cell culture.