Induced cellular events distinguished by LumiTech's ApoGlow assay
Apoptosis is an organized, energy-dependent process involving a number of well-defined pathways that lead to the death of a cell. Ultimately, these pathways converge on the mitochondria, causing changes in mitochondrial transmembrane potential that perturb cellular ADP:ATP ratios. Scientists at LumiTech Ltd. of Nottingham, United Kingdom, have shown that distinctive changes in the ADP:ATP ratio occur during cellular apoptosis and necrosis, enabling discrimination between these cellular states.1 LumiTech's new ApoGlow kit uses bioluminescent detection of adenylate nucleotides to monitor changes in the cellular ratio of ADP:ATP. According to Kevin Slater, managing director at LumiTech, it is now possible to determine all possible results from putative cell viability-affecting agents within a single test.

In this system, cells are grown in 96-well microplates. Plates can be loaded directly from the incubator into the luminometer, which measures the intensity of light emitted following...

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