Hello,
I am a student looking for a non-motility viability assay to determine nematode death?
Our current assays are all motility based. In addition, the literature I’ve come across utilizes the same method to determine death for microscopic organisms.
I would appreciate any comments or thoughts on chemical-based (oxygen metabolism, protein synthesis, etc.) assays that anyone has used or heard of.
Thank you!
Hi,
just to be clear, you want a way of determining the worm is dead other than it is not moving? If so, I also imagine you want an assay for lots of worms rather than one where you test each worm (e.g. by poking it or looking for lack of pharyngeal pumping?)
There are dye uptake methods available (among these is something like SYTOX), where the dye is taken up by dead worms and fluoresces;
www.invitrogen.com/etc/medialib/en/filelibrary/pdf/...Par.../16.pdf
The dead/live numbers can be easily counted using this method or even facs sorted. Is that what you mean?
Steve
Steveh,
Yes, thank you! I am looking to find a way to easily assess live vs dead nematode populations using a chemical assay.
I have found an ATP-testing kit and your recommendation, the SYTOX kit, is exactly the kind of kit I am looking for.
The link you provided came up strangely on my computer, but I will look into products and services area to find any other similar testing kits.
If you come across anything else, I would greatly appreciate any additional information.
Again, thank you!
Hi,
yes, sorry, it appears that the link brings up a corrupted pdf. I’ll have another look for the correct link and post it if you don’t manage to find something yourself. As you say, there should be a lot of info on the Invitrogen site.
Good luck.
Steve
OK.
The link below is essentially a variant on the first link I posted;
Regards
Steve
Thank you!