Technological watch

Noninvasive and safe cell viability assay for Paramecium using natural pigment extracted from food

window.eligibleForRa21 = 'false'; // required by js files for displaying the cobranding box (entitlement-box.js) Skip to main content Advertisement

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • nature
  • scientific reports
  • articles
  • article
  • A Nature Research Journal

    Menu Search E-alert Submit My Account Login Noninvasive and safe cell viability assay for Paramecium using natural pigment extracted from food volume 10, Article number: 10996 (2020) Cite this article

    Subjects AbstractNoninvasive, safe and cost-effective cell viability assay is important in many fields of biological research such as cell culture and counting. We examined ten typical natural pigments extracted from food to find that Monascus pigment (MP) or anthocyanin pigment (AP: purple sweet potato and purple cabbage) with Tris (Trimethylolaminomethane) works as a good indicator of viability assay for dye exclusion test (DET) of Paramecium. This was confirmed spectrally by scan-free, non-invasive absorbance spectral imaging A (x, y, ?) microscopy. We developed a new method of cell capture using a metal mesh to confine live Paramecium in a restricted space. This has the advantage that a low-cost and robust capture can be fabricated without using special equipment, compared to a conventional lab-on-a-chip. As a result, MP and AP stained dead cells as quick as methylene blue (MB), a synthetic dye conventionally used in DET within 1 min when treated with microwave and benzalkonium chloride. The natural pigments with Tris had little effect on inhibiting the growth of Paramecium, but MB killed all the cells within 1 h. MP is most useful because it allows non-invasive DET without Tris. This approach provides less invasive and safe DET.

    Publication date: 03/07/2020

    Author: Kyohei Yamashita

    Reference: doi:10.1038/s41598-020-67712-0

    Nature (Srep Articles)

          

    This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 870292.