Application of the MTT-based colorimetric method for evaluating bacterial growth using different solvent systems

A tetrazolium salt has been used to develop a quantitative colorimetric assay for mammalian cell survival and proliferation. The assay detects living, but not dead cells and the signal generated is dependent on the degree of activation of the cells. This method can therefore be used to measure cytotoxicity, proliferation or activation. The results can be read on a multiwell scanning spectrophotometer (ELISA reader) and show a high degree of precision. No washing steps are used in the assay. The main advantages of the colorimetric assay are its rapidity and precision, and the lack of any radioisotope. We have used the assay to measure proliferative lymphokines, mitogen stimulations and complement-mediated lysis.

The bacteria cell envelope is a complex multilayered structure that serves to protect these organisms from their unpredictable and often hostile environment. The cell envelopes of most bacteria fall into one of two major groups. Gram-negative bacteria are surrounded by a thin peptidoglycan cell wall, which itself is surrounded by an outer membrane containing lipopolysaccharide. Gram-positive bacteria lack an outer membrane but are surrounded by layers of peptidoglycan many times thicker than is found in the gram-negatives. Threading through these layers of peptidoglycan are long anionic polymers, called teichoic acids. The composition and organization of these envelope layers and recent insights into the mechanisms of cell envelope assembly are discussed.

The MTT tetrazolium salt colorimetric assay previously described by Mosmann (1983, J. Immunol. Methods 65, 55) to measure cytotoxicity and cell proliferation was further explored to extend its application to the measurement of cell activation. The level of MTT cleavage by viable cells of various origins was found to be directly proportional to the number of cells but to increase as a non-linear function of time. This non-linear relationship was related to a time-linear cell death during MTT incubation. The cleavage of MTT by viable cells was found to follow first order kinetics and could be fitted to Michaelis' kinetics. Different cell types exhibited similar apparent Km values (1949 microM) and different apparent maximal velocities (V). The apparent V values determined for a given cell type under different experimental conditions were rigorously similar. This analysis of MTT cleavage by viable cells suggests that the colorimetric MTT test can be useful to quantify the activation level of cells, independently of proliferation.