From: Electrical stimulation to promote osseointegration of bone anchoring implants: a topical review
 | Assessment | Assessment description | Outcome measures | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cell proliferation | Cell viability | Cell adhesion | Cell morphology | Bone markers* | |||
Colorimetric assay | MTT1 | MTT is reduced into fluorescent purple formazan crystals by living cells, which determines mitochondrial activity with a spectrophotometer [32] | X | X | Â | Â | Â |
WST-12 | WST-1 is cleaved to soluble fluorescent formazan by a complex cellular mechanism by living cells, which determines living cell activity with a spectrophotometer [32, 33] | X | X | Â | Â | Â | |
Staining | LIVE/DEAD | Fluorescent staining of cells using calcein-AM (viable cells), propidium iodide (dead cells) and Hoechst 33,342 (total cells) [34] | Â | X | Â | Â | Â |
Trypan blue | Staining elimination test where viable cells do not take up the dye, but dead cells are permeable to it [34] | Â | X | Â | Â | Â | |
Imaging | SEM3 | Electron microscope that enables high-resolution imaging and generates specimen images by scanning of the surface using a focused beam of electrodes [31] | Â | Â | X | X | Â |
Fluorescence microscopy | Optical imaging method used to study cell physiology by using fluorescence [35] | Â | Â | X | X | Â | |
CLSM4 | Optical imaging method used for enhancing optical resolution and contrasting a micrograph by usage of a spatial pinhole to stop out-of-focus light in image formation [36] | Â | Â | Â | X | Â | |
PCR methods | RT-PCR6 | A variation of the standard PCR5 method where cDNA7 is made from RNA8 via reverse transcription, which allows amplification of specific mRNA transcripts from small biological specimens [37] | Â | Â | Â | Â | X |
qPCR9 | Another variation of standard PCR where two elements are added to the standard procedure: fluorescent dye and fluorometer. Widely used for quantifying RNA transcript levels in cells and tissues [37] | Â | Â | Â | Â | X | |
Immunoassays | ELISA10 | An immunoassay used for quantification which utilises an antibody labelled with an enzyme marker where either the enzyme or antibody is bound to an immunosorbent substrate. The change in enzyme activity is a result of the enzyme-antibody-antigen reaction which is proportional to the antigen concentration [38] | Â | Â | Â | Â | X |
RIA11 | An immunoassay for quantification of antigen–antibody reaction by usage of a radioactively labelled substance either directly or indirectly to quantify the binding of the unlabelled substance to a specific antibody [39] |  |  |  |  | X | |
Western blotting | Identification assay used to identify proteins or peptides that have been electrophoretically separated via blot relocating from electrophoresis gel into strips of nitrocellulose paper followed by labelling with antibody probes [40] | Â | Â | Â | Â | X |