Application Note: Incucyte^® ATP Assay Enables Direct, Live-Cell Measurement of ATP

Studies have shown that a variety of tumor types rely on glucose and glutamine to produce ATP, the fundamental fuel for cellular activates. Therapeutics that target these metabolic pathways are an active area of research for cancer and other indications.

Endpoint assays are the standard practice for monitoring changes in cellular ATP. However, these assays offer limited kinetic insights, they cannot distinguish cell-type-specific ATP changes and are unable to offer insight into relevant morphological changes.

The Incucyte^® SX5  Live-Cell Analysis System and Incucyte^® ATP assay, offer researchers the unique capability to measure cell-specific metabolic changes and morphology, directly from the culture hood. Importantly, the platform offers unique benefits for cancer research involving metabolically-targeted treatments:

• Non-perturbing assay captures morphological changes
• Independent of cell number or indicator expression level
• Suitable for direct measurement in co-culture models

This application note describes the Incucyte^® ATP assay principal, proof of concept studies of ATP dynamics in live cells, and a case study on the effects of glutaminase-1 (GLS1) inhibition on ATP in mono- and co-culture models for breast cancer.