Cytotoxicity
Label-free digital analyses for cell health, stress, death & recovery Request a quote or demoNanolive’s live cell imaging can be used to differentiate between cytotoxic conditions and drug candidates label-free. The LIVE Cell Death Assay uses machine learning to automatically quantify and monitor cell health and death kinetics, and is able to identify apoptosis and necrosis simultaneously, without markers. Read on to discover applications including cytotoxic drug candidate screening in a 96-well plate, increasing understanding of therapy resistance, and even detecting cells recovering from cell death.
LIVE Cell Death Assay
A push-button, automated solution for profiling cell health and death
The LIVE Cell Death Assay (LCDA) provides first-in-class cytotoxicity analysis of dynamic label-free live cell data. Developed using state-of-the-art machine learning, the LCDA has been trained to discriminate not only living cells from dead cells, but also apoptosis from necrosis.
Kinetic EC50 Calculation with EVE Analytics
Dose-response curves provide important pharmacodynamic properties (efficacy, potency, toxicity, and lethality) for evaluating the performance of candidate drugs in the discovery pipeline. Half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values are a standard indicator of drug potency, but the robustness and reproducibility of EC50 values generated using current methods is low.
The non-invasive nature of label-free imaging means cells can be continuously monitored, over infinite periods of time, which allows kinetic EC50 values to be calculated. Kinetic EC50 values provide information about a drug’s stability; whether a drug’s potency increases or decreases over time.
Monitoring different types of cell death, label-free with Nanolive’s LIVE Cell Death Assay
Cells were incubated at 42 degrees Celsius on the imaging stage incubator during imaging to induce heat shock and measure the cellular response. We start to see morphological changes as cells contract and some lose contact with their neighbours. The Health Cell Index of the cell population registered an initial decrease before stabilising at ~85. This was mirrored by a low rate of cell death.
After 15 hours, the Health Cell Index sharply decreased as most cells began to show signs of stress and the death rate began to increase again. 3T3 preadipocytes incubated at 42°C during imaging, imaged every 00:01:45 for 20:25:00. The assay used is Nanolive’s LIVE Cell Death Assay (LCDA).
Webinar
Watch our Webinar: How to calculate kinetic EC50 values with EVE Analytics
In this webinar, Dr. Emma Gibbin-Lameira shows how Nanolive’s label-free, non-invasive imaging can be used to quantify dose-dependent responses of HeLa cells to Chloroquine.
Specifically, Dr. Gibbin-Lameira shows that:
- Dose-dependent experiments can be performed in 96-well plate format over long periods of time (> 2 days), reducing the need for time and labor-intensive multiple fixed-point measurements and eliminating cytotoxic/cytostatic effects arising from the use of labels, dyes, or phototoxic damage
- Metrics output from Nanolive’s proprietary software, EVE Analytics, can be used to generate statistically robust time-dependent EC50 values based on total dry mass; a metric unique to label-free imaging
- Sub-cellular spatial resolution combined with high content image analysis can be used to investigate a drugs’ mechanism of action
Sign up to watch the webinar:
Application Note
Feature Application: How to calculate kinetic EC50 values
In this application note we show how to calculate kinetic EC50 values from data directly output from Nanolive’s image analysis software, EVE Analytics.
Nanolive imaging and analysis platforms
Swiss high-precision imaging and analysis platforms that look instantly inside label-free living cells in 3D

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Automated live cell imaging and analysis: a unique walk-away solution for long-term live cell imaging of single cells and cell populations

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Multimodal Complete Solution: combine high quality non-invasive 4D live cell imaging with fluorescence

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Budget-friendly, easy-to-use, compact solution for high quality non-invasive 4D live cell imaging