Patent ID: 6395555
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: C12M,G01N

Abstract:
A method for determining an effect of at least one drug on respiration rate of cells in an attached culture of cells comprising:a. dissolving a phosphorescent compound in a culture medium comprising an attached culture of cells at the bottom of a vessel containing same, wherein a quenching constant and lifetime at zero oxygen are known or previously determined for the phosphorescent compound at temperature (t); b. introducing the at least one drug, for which an effect on the cells is being determined, into the culture medium; c. illuminating the cell culture and culture medium with a pulsed or modulated excitation light at an intensity and frequency sufficient to cause the phosphorescent compound to emit a measurable phosphorescence; d. measuring the emitted phosphorescence at a point in the culture medium between the attached cell layer and air/medium interface; e. calculating the phosphorescence lifetime and oxygen concentration gradient in the medium; and comparing the calculated phosphorescence lifetime and oxygen concentration gradient with that of a comparable cell culture without the at least one drug, thereby determining the effect of the at least one drug on the respiration rate of the cells at temperature (t).