InSphero Launches 3D InSight™ Cytotoxicity Assay Kit for 3D Cell Culture

3D InSight™ Cytotoxicity Assay Kit incorporates Promega technology to measure cell viability in 3D microtissues, offering complete solution for toxicity and efficacy testing.

InSphero AG, the leading provider of 3D cell culture technology, assay-ready 3D microtissues, and 3D-focused contract research testing services, has announced the release of their new 3D InSight™ Cytotoxicity Assay Kit. The biochemical assay incorporates proprietary luminescent detection technology with improved reagent stability developed by Promega Corporation (Madison, WI) for measurement of cell viability in 3D microtissues. The kit provides customers with the convenience of ordering InSphero’s 3D InSight™ microtissues, specially formulated culture media, and an industry-standard cell viability assay from a single source, offering a complete solution for more predictive assessment of drug-induced liver injury (DILI), general toxicity, and drug efficacy.

3D liver and tumor microtissues are increasingly used to meet the demands of drug discovery and development, serving as more representative and predictive biological models for testing drug toxicity and efficacy. One of the most common endpoint assays for cytotoxicity assessment is measurement of total cellular ATP content, as ATP levels are an indicator of metabolically active, viable cells. The 3D InSight™ Cytotoxicity Assay Kit measures ATP levels in spheroids using Promega’s homogeneous luciferase-based assay technology, providing reliable quantification of viability with a simple add-mix-read assay format. The complete kit contains reagents suitable for analysis of about 400 microtissues, including an ATP standard and a 3D-optimized protocol compatible with InSphero’s catalog of assay-ready microtissues such as liver, pancreatic islet, and a variety of tumor microtissues derived from common cancer cell lines.

InSphero CEO and co-founder Dr. Jan Lichtenberg states the incorporation of Promega technology in the kit brings together two leading technology providers, and is the latest result of InSphero’s strong strategic partnership with Promega. “As one of the first companies in our market, Promega understood the importance of offering optimized assay protocols for 3D cell-culture models. Our customers will benefit from a complete set of solutions for their toxicity assessment workflow, including a gold-standard 3D microtissue, optimized maintenance media, and now a reliable viability assay.”

Dr. Terry Riss, Senior Product Specialist, Cell Health at Promega states, “We are excited to deliver our industry-leading ATP assay technology to the 3D marketplace through InSphero. Their insight and expertise has been crucial in optimizing our assays for use with 3D microtissues, and has helped accelerate our efforts to adapt a variety of well-established luminescent assays to researchers using 3D model systems.”