Cell viability assessment microscopy basically involves the measurement of the ratio of live and lifeless cells over a total number of cells in a specimen. This kind of assessment commonly deals with bioresearch that includes the analysis of the life cycle of cancerous cells, organ implants, and reproductive fertility among others. In other areas, cell viability assessment microscopy may be used for evaluating the potency of agricultural chemicals to crops and the environment as a whole.

The premise on which the process of cell viability measurement rests is the fact that cells are the basic units that make up all living things. Cell viability assessments call for viewing cell samples and then applying dyes or other chemicals to determine which cells are alive and which are not. In this regard, cell viability assessment and microscopy are inseparable because the latter provides the only means of viewing biological mechanisms in cellular, or even sub cellular, level.

Importance Of Cell Viability Assessment Microscopy

Through cell viability assessment microscopy, which requires the use of clinical microscopes, the field of biotechnology can study and produce genetically modified cells and beneficial bacteria that can greatly help in finding cures not only for the diseases of humans but those of other living things as well.

For instance, cell viability processes can provide researchers with vital information about how cells afflicted with cancer can grow and how such cells respond to treatment in a smaller scale. The figures that come out of such assessments can later on help medical practitioners to come up with more precise methods of combating specific cancers in a larger picture.

Problems In Cell Viability Assessment Microscopy

Like most processes in biomedical laboratories, cell viability assessment has problems and concerns that can potentially create dramatic errors in the results if not addressed properly. The following are the most common problems in cell viability assessment microscopy.

In cell viability assessments, the number one problem for researchers involves damaged samples. This arises when the sample cells that they are studying will not live long enough to provide conclusive results. Apparently, this problem can be caused by the very procedure used in cell viability assessment, namely microscopy. Aspects in microscopy like agitation caused by tremendous light, photobleaching, and chemical reaction can affect the survival of cells being assessed.

Next, many laboratories still use the manual techniques in cell viability assessment microscopy. This technique involves application of dye solution to the cell samples, whereby the cells that absorb the dye are dead and those that are free of the dye solution are alive. In this method, a researcher is required to be present all the time to calculate the living and dead cells using only a hemacytometer and a microscope. Obviously, this process can both be tedious and time-consuming.

Lastly, observing the behavior of countless cells under the microscope is downright impractical. So, researchers make use of sampling techniques in conducting cell viability assessments. These sampling techniques may be dependent on subjective observation of the researcher; hence, there have been cases where variances in the results occur between several users. The samples assessed may not even be representative of the whole specimen, so the results may have the risk of not being credible enough.

Developments In Cell Viability Assessment Microscopy

Because of the drawbacks identified with cell viability assessment that can jeopardize bioresearch efforts, a number of developments and improvements have been made to minimize the impact of the abovementioned problems.

First, cell viability researchers are increasingly performing microscopy procedures that make use of fluorescent or luminous probes. Coupled with the development of confocal microscopes that have laser scanners, cell viability assessment microscopy can now be done with quantitative results that are not based on backbreaking, and sometimes subjective, sampling. Plus, actual images of the samples can now be viewed in real time.

Second, researchers today now make use of some form of salt and other chemicals aside from the old-fashioned dyes. Whereas before, determining the viability of a particular cell depends on its permeability on the color of the dye used by the researcher, chemicals that respond to the metabolites within a cell are now used. These chemicals rely on the cell’s reaction which can cause detectable coloration when viewed under the microscope. But not just for the sake of coloration, the cell reaction caused by these chemicals also provides data about the overall condition of the cell that pertains to its genetic indicators and wellness, among others.

Finally, automation of cell viability assessment microscopy has been steadily on the rise. Automation includes the development and manufacture of equipment that considerably cut the entire process of cell viability assessment into a few steps. An automated process means lesser exposure of the cell samples and lesser reliance on subjective statistics. All in all, the availability of automated cell viability assessment microscopy can lessen research fatigue without compromising credibility of results.