WST-1 Cell Viability & Proliferation Assay

The reduction of tetrazolim salts to colored formazan compounds by succinate-tetrazolim reductase provides a sensitive and accurate method to measure cell viability and proliferation. The cleavage of the tetrazolim salts to formazan takes place in the mitochondria of metabolically active cells. ScienCell’s WST-1 Cell Viability & Proliferation Assay utilizes a tetrazolim salt, WST-1[2-(4Iodophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium]. WST-1 produces a highly water soluble formazan upon metabolically active cells, allowing a direct and user-friendly colorimetric measurement of cell viability and proliferation without an additional extraction step. The WST kit provides the user the flexibility to record absorbance at different time points, if desired.