High-throughput quantification of the effect of DMSO on the viability of lung and breast cancer cells using an easy-to-use spectrophotometric trypan blue-based assay

One of the main aspects investigated in potential therapeutic compounds is their effect on cells viability and proliferative ability. Although various methods have been developed to investigate these aspects, these methods present with shortcomings in terms of either cost, availability, accuracy, precision, or throughput. This study describes a simple, economic, reproducible, and high-throughput assay to quantify cell death and proliferation. In this assay, adherent cells are fixed, stained with trypan blue, and measured for trypan blue internalization using a spectrophotometric absorbance plate reader. Corresponding cell counts to the absorbance measurements are extrapolated from a standard curve. This assay was used to measure the effect of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on the viability of breast and lung cancer cells. Decrease in cell count associated with the increase in DMSO percentage and exposure time. The assay’s results closely correlated with the conventional trypan blue exclusion assay (Pearson correlation coefficient (r) > 0.99; p < 0.0001), but with higher precision. The assay developed in this study can be used for various applications such as optimization, cell treatment investigations, proliferation, and cytotoxicity studies.