Patent ID: 8093015

Claim:
A method for determining the viability of cells in cell cultures, comprising the steps of: staining a sample of the cells by a dye that can penetrate into individual cells as a function of their viability, and determining portions of the cells stained with different intensities, characterized by centrifuging a cell suspension of the stained cells as a sample in a sample vessel ( 10 ); wherein the sample vessel ( 10 ) has a holding area (I) and a measuring area (II) that adjoins the holding area (I), the measuring area (II) defining a capillary having an inside diameter substantially smaller than an inside diameter of the holding area (I); the centrifuging being carried out until a solids content present in the sample has been deposited as a compressed cell cake ( 13 ) and determining proportions of volumes of differently stained sections ( 131 , 132 , 133 ) of the compressed cell cake ( 13 ) to determine the proportions of cells of different viability.