What is the Principle Behind Tetrazolium Salt Assays?
The principle behind tetrazolium salt assays revolves around the reduction of tetrazolium salts to formazans by cellular enzymes. In living cells, dehydrogenase enzymes, primarily in the mitochondria, facilitate this reduction. The resultant formazan is colored and insoluble (except in some cases like XTT and WST), allowing for easy quantification by spectrophotometry.
