fibroblasts viability - cell culture method (Jun/04/2010 )

Hi,
i'm a student and a newbie in the field of cell culture and the problem relates to my thesis project. I would like to test the cell viability of fibrioblasts on a rough surface. Previously light microscopy images has been used and viability has been determined based on the cell's morphology, which for me seems to be a time consuming method and not that reliable! First alternative I thought of was to stain the cell and based on that count the cells, so my first question:

Is there any live and dead stains that can be combined that can be observed in a light microspopy?

This will probably solve the reliable problem, but not the time consuming.. so I thought of an MTT-assay, which will quantify the viable cells. If I am correct? I have two questions here:

Will this method work with fibroblast?

How precise is this method? it is probable that the results of the surfaces tested do not differ that much.

Best regards
Jess.

Hi there,
MTT and MTS are quite stardard viability test. it should be ok to be used.
However, u did mention about rough surface.. wat u mean by that?

BTW, are u malaysian?